STR-ANGE 
EO  P  LE  S 

'•  FREDERICK  •  STARR 


STRANGE    PEOPLES 


BY 

FREDERICK   STARR 


D.    C.   HEATH   &    CO.,    PUBLISHERS 
BOSTON        NEW  YORK        CHICAGO 


Eeafcers. 

BY    FREDERICK    STARR. 


No.   1.     STRANGE    PEOPLES.  40  CENTS. 

No.  2.     AMERICAN    INDIANS.  45  CENTS. 

No.  3.     HOW   MEN    DO.  IN  PREPARATION. 


D.  C.  HEATH   &  CO.,  PUBLISHERS. 


COPYRIGHT,  1901, 
BY  FREDERICK  STARR. 


STACK 
ANNEX 

Gti 


57 


THIS   BOOK 

STRANGE   PEOPLES 

IS  DEDICATED  TO 

WILLIAM   FOSTER  YOUNG 


PREFACE. 

THE  author  claims  no  originality  for  the  matter  of 
this  book  for  young  readers  on  Strange  Peoples.  He 
has  culled  material  where  he  could.  His  aim  has  been 
to  present  a  series  of  sketches  which  may  render  the 
maps  in  the  geography  more  interesting  and  give  school 
children  a  broader  and  deeper  sympathy  with  other 
races  and  peoples.  Indebted  to  many  books,  he  has 
been  under  constant  obligations  to  Verneau's  Les  Races 
Humaines  a.r\d  Ratzel's  Volkerkunde.  Other  books  which 
have  been  helpful  will  be  found  listed  at  the  close  of 
this  volume. 

At  first  the  author  planned  to  use  only  original  or 
new  illustrations.  It  has  been,  however,  impossible 
to  carry  out  this  plan.  Less  than  one  fourth  of  the 
pictures  are  really  new ;  it  is  believed,  however,  that 
all  are  authentic  and  will  prove  instructive. 

It  would  have  been  easy  to  make  the  book  more 
interesting  by  the  introduction  of  descriptions,  more 
detailed,  of  the  ridiculous  or  dreadful  practices  of  some 
races.  The  purpose  has,  however,  not  been  to  hold 
other  peoples  up  -to  ridicule  nor  to  teach  morality  by 
contrast ;  there  are,  indeed,  too  many  matters  for  criti- 
cism in  our  own  mode  of  life  to  warrant  such  a  treat- 
ment. Nor  would  it  be  possible  in  a  book  for  children 


Vi  PREFACE. 

to  present  that  full  discussion  which  might  be  expected 
in  a  treatise  on  ethnology  for  students.  The  book 
makes  no  pretence  to  systematic  treatment ;  only  a  few 
people  are  taken,  here  and  there,  almost  at  haphazard, 
to  illustrate  the  marvellous  richness  of  the  field  for 
study  which,  even  now,  is  presented  by  the  Strange 
Peoples  of  the  globe. 


CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER  PACK 

I.    INTRODUCTION      .        .     • i 

II.  THE  PEOPLES  OF  NORTH  AMERICA:  ESKIMO      .        6 

HI.  WILD  INDIANS      .        .        .        .        .        .        -13 

IV.  MEXICANS     .        .        .        .                .        .        .17 

V.    SOUTH  AMERICAN  PEOPLES 26 

VI.  THE  PEOPLES  OF  EUROPE:   FAIR  WHITES          .      33 

VII.    DARK  WHITES 38 

VIII.    BASQUES       .        . 43 

IX.     FINNS 47 

X.     LAPPS 53 

XI.  TURKS  .    •    .        .        .        .               .        .        .60 

XII.    THE  PEOPLES  OF  ASIA 65 

XIII.  CHINESE 69 

XIV.  COREANS 76 

XV.    TIBETANS 81 

XVI.    JAPANESE 88 

XVII.    AINU 95 

XVIII.     HINDUS 101 

XIX.     TODAS .107 

XX.    ANDAMANESE:  MINCOPIES 112 

XXI.    ARABS  .        .        . 118 

XXII.  THE  PEOPLES  OF  AFRICA:  KABVLES  .        .        .123 


viii  CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER  PAGE 

XXIII.  NEGROES 128 

XXIV.  NEGROIDS 134 

XXV.    PYGMIES 138 

XXVI.  BUSHMEN  AND  HOTTENTOTS  .  .  .  .143 

XXVII.  MALAYS 150 

XXVIII.  THE  PEOPLES  OF  THE  PHILIPPINES  .  .  .156 

XXIX.  MELANESIANS 163 

XXX.  POLYNESIANS 172 

XXXI.  CONCLUSION  .        .        .        .        .        .        .        .180 

LIST  OF  REFERENCE  BOOKS 185 


LIST   OF   ILLUSTRATIONS. 

Australian  (RatzeH Frontispiece 

PAGE 

1.  Group  of  Greenland  Eskimo.     (Nansen.)         ...  9 

2.  A  Greenland  Eskimo  Fishing.     (Nansen.)       .         .         .11 

3.  Victorio  —  an  Apache  Warrior.     (Lummis.)    ...  14 

4.  Mexican  Ox-cart.     (From  photograph.)  .         .         .         .21 

5.  Mexican  Water-carrier.     (From  photograph.)           .         .  22 

6.  Otomi  Indian  Girls,  Mexico.     (From  photograph.)  .         .  24 
7  Peruvian  Antiquities.     (Ratzel.) 27 

8.  Botocudo  Indian  with  Lip-plug.     (Tylor.)        .         .  31 

9.  Fish-girl  of  Scheveningen,  Holland.  (From  photograph.)  35 

10.  Boats  made  from  Shoes,  Holland.     (From  drawing  by 

Hait<£.) 36 

11.  Italian  Child.     (Miln.) 39 

12.  Basque  Cart.     (Verneau.) 46 

13.  Finns  Singing.     (Verneau.) 51 

14.  A  Group  of  Lapps.     (Verneau.) 54 

15.  Laplander  on  Snow-runners.     (Verneau.)         ...  57 

1 6.  Caravan  preparing  to  start :  Asiatic  Turks.     (Verneau.).  62 

17.  Chinese  Mandarin.     (Ratzel.) 71 

18.  Chinese  Boy  choosing  Toys.     (Doolittle.)  73 

19.  Corean  Hat.     (Lowell.) f  78 

20.  Tibetan  Lamas  blowing  on  Shells.     (Verneau.)       .         .  84 

21.  Mongols  choosing  a  Lama.     (Hue.)         ....  86 

22.  Japanese  Girl  with  Baby.     (Arnold.)       ....  89 

23.  Boys' Festival :  Japan.     (Bramhall.)        ....  92 


X  LIST  OF  ILLUSTRATIONS. 

PAGE 

24.  Ainu  —  a  Hairy  Specimen.     (Batchelor.)          .  .96 

25.  Ainu  Women,  showing  Tattooing.  (From  a  photograph.)       97 

26.  Hindu  Dancing-girls  and  Musicians.     (Verneau.)     .         .     103 

27.  Hindu  Snake  Charmers.     (Brehm.)          ....     105 

28.  Group  of  Todas.     (Verneau.) 1 1 1 

29.  Andaman  Islanders.     (Tylor.)         .         .         .         .         .116 

30.  Camel  and  Palanquin.     (From  a  photograph.)          .         .     120 

31.  Group  of  Kabyles :  Algeria.     (From  a  photograph.)         .     125 

32.  Making  Couscous  in  the  Desert.    (From  a  photograph.)  .     127 

33.  Negro  Smiths  at  Work.     (Ratzel.) 131 

34.  Waganda  Musicians.     (Ratzel.) 137 

35.  Huts  of  Ashango-land  Dwarfs.     (Du  Chaillu.)          .         .     140 

36.  Gora-player:  Bushman.     (Ratzel.)  .         .         .         .     145 

37.  Bushman  Rock  Picture.     (Ratzel.) 147 

38.  Hottentot  Kraal.     (Ratzel.) 149 

39.  Malay  Family :  Java.     (Verneau.)  .....     152 

40.  Buffalo  Cart:  Java.     (Ratzel.)         .         .  .         .     154 

41.  Krises:  Java.     (Ratzel.) 155 

42.  Philippine  Negrito.     (Meyer.) 158 

43.  Houses  of  Igorrotes.     (Meyer.) 160 

44.  Head-hunting  Party :  Igorrotes.     (Meyer.)       .         .         .162 

45.  Fijian.     (Ratzel.)    .        .        . 165 

46.  Pile-dwelling  Village :  New  Guinea.     (Ratzel.)         .        .167 

47.  Canoe:  New  Guinea.     (Ratzel.)      .         .        .        .        .168 

48.  Tattooed  New  Zealander.     (Verneau.)     ....     173 

49.  Helmets  and  Idol-heads  of  Feathers :  Hawaii.     (Ratzel.)     175 

50.  Kingsmill  Islander.     (Tylor.) 179 


STRANGE    PEOPLES, 
i. 

INTRODUCTORY. 

WE  are  to  read  about  some  of  the  Strange 
Peoples  of  the  world.  We  shall  find  many  curi- 
ous customs.  There  is  an  old  saying,  — 

"  Many  men  of  many  minds  ; 
Many  birds  of  many  kinds  ; 
Many  fishes  in  the  sea ; 
Many  men  who  don't  agree." 

Peoples  differ  in  so  many  ways.  There  are 
tall  Patagonians  and  short  Bushmen.  There  are 
white  peoples,  and  black,  yellow,  and  brown  peo- 
ples. There  are  peoples  whose  bodies  are  so 
covered  with  hair  as  almost  to  be  called  furry, 
and  there  are  peoples  whose  faces  even  are  hair- 
less except  for  eyebrows  and  eyelashes.  There 
are  lively  peoples  and  there  are  sluggish  peoples ; 
gay  peoples  and  sad  ones.  Negroes  do  not  think 
and  feel  like  white  men,  and  the  Chinaman  thinks 
and  feels  differently  from  either.  All  peoples 
have  their  own  customs.  When  we  speak  of 
other  peoples  as  Strange  Peoples,  we  must  never 


2  STRANGE   PEOPLES. 

forget  that  we  are  as  strange  to  them  as  they  are 
to  us.  We  think  it  curious  that  the  Chinese 
dwarf,  by  bandaging,  the  feet  of  their  women ; 
they  think  it  strange  that  we  do  not.  To  us  the 
Chinese  face  seems  much  too  flat;  the  Chinese 
think  ours  are  like  the  face  of  an  eagle  and  that 
they  are  harsh  and  cruel.  We  think  the  flat, 
wide  nose  of  the  negro  is  ugly ;  negroes  think 
it  far  handsomer  than  ours.  So  we  will  remem- 
ber that  all  these  peoples  are  "strange"  only 
because  they  are  unlike  us :  that  we  ourselves 
are  just  as  strange  as  they  are.  They  have  as 
much  right  to  their  ideas  and  customs  as  we 
have  to  ours  :  often  indeed  we  might  find  theirs 
better  than  our  own. 

We  begin  with  North  America.  We  then 
pass  to  South  America;  then  to  Europe,  Asia, 
Africa,  and  the  Pacific  Islands  in  order.  We 
shall  find  that  the  different  peoples  of  the  world 
are  not  scattered  haphazard  ;  on  the  contrary,  they 
are  quite  regularly  distributed  by  types.  Thus 
until  lately  the  peoples  living  in  America  were  all 
Indians,  with  red-brown  skin,  straight  and  coarse 
black  hair,  and  high  and  wide  cheek  bones. 
Europe  and  Northern  Africa  (which  really  be- 
longs rather  to  Europe  than  Africa)  form  the 
land  of  the  white  peoples.  South  Africa  — 


INTRODUCTORY.  3 

Africa  proper  —  is  the  home  of  negroes  and 
negroids,  with  dark  brown,  almost  black,  skin, 
narrow  heads  and  faces,  and  woolly  hair.  The 
proper  population  of  Asia  is  yellow  peoples,  with 
round  heads,  slant  eyes,  and  straight,  long,  black 
hair.  In  Australia  are  brown  peoples  with  curly 
or  bushy  hair.  In  Oceanica  are  several  well- 
marked  types  —  the  little  brown  Malays,  the  dark, 
almost  black,  Melanesians  with  crinkly  hair,  and 
the  tall,  well-built,  fine-featured,  light  Polynesians. 
This  is,  in  general,  the  distribution  of  the  human 
races.  But  there  has  been  much  movement. 
There  are  now  both  white  and  blacks  in  Amer- 
ica; the  English  whites  have  crowded  in  upon 
the  natives  of  Australia ;  in  Asia  there  are  white 
peoples,  like  the  Ainu  and  Todas,  who  have 
certainly  lived  there  a  long  time. 

The  different  peoples  are  unlike  in  their  cul- 
ture. Some  peoples  live  on  wild  food,  having 
no  cultivated  plants  or  domestic  animals.  They 
hunt  animals  and  catch  fish ;  they  search  for 
birds'  eggs  and  honey;  they  grub  up  roots  and 
gather  barks,  leaves,  fruits,  seeds,  and  nuts  for 
food.  To  such  tribes,  who  usually  wander  in 
little  bands  from  place  to  place,  the  name  sav- 
age is  given.  The  word  does  not  mean  that 
they  are  fierce  and  cruel  in  disposition ;  most 


4  STRANGE   PEOPLES. 

savage  tribes,  to-day  living,  are  neither.  The 
Eskimo  and  Mincopies  are  savages,  but  they  are 
quite  kind  and  gentle.  When  peoples  settle 
down  to  cultivate  the  soil  and  build  homes,  or 
when  they  raise  herds  of  animals  with  which  they 
move  from  time  to  time  for  new  pastures,  their 
life  is  easier.  To  such  peoples  —  so  long  as  they 
do  not  know  how  to  work  iron  by  smelting,  to 
write  by  means  of  characters  that  represent 
sounds,  and  to  make  animals  assist  them  in  till- 
ing the  ground  —  the  name  barbarian  is  applied. 
When  any  peoples  have  learned  these  three 
great  helps,  they  are  called  civilized.  There  are 
then  three  great  stages  of  culture,  —  savagery, 
barbarism,  and  civilization.  The  Eskimo  is  in 
savagery ;  the  American  Indians  are  mostly  in 
barbarism ;  the  Chinese  are  in  civilization. 

The  way  in  which  the  life  of  peoples  is  affected 
by  the  lands  in  which  they  live  is  most  interest- 
ing. The  Eskimo  live  in  the  cold  north ;  there 
is  little  wood  there  for  construction ;  fuels  such 
as  are  used  elsewhere  are  rare ;  no  fibre-yielding 
plants  grow  there.  Yet  the  Eskimo  has  made 
full  use  of  what  nature  gives  him.  He  builds  his 
house,  when  necessary,  of  the  snow  itself,  heats 
it  with  animal  fats  and  oils,  clothes  himself  in 
excellent  garments  of  skins,  knows  the  ways  of 


INTRODUCTORY.  5 

all  the  animals  and  birds  around  him  for  their 
destruction,  and  has  invented  an  ideal  hunter's 
boat  and  devised  a  beautiful  series  of  weapons 
and  tools.  The  way  in  which  he  has  fitted  him- 
self to  the  place  in  which  he  lives  is  wonderful. 
The  world  over  we  notice  the  same  thing :  man 
everywhere  ransacks  his  home-land  to  find  out 
what  is  useful  and  turns  it  to  his  needs. 

Often  where  two  different  peoples  live  in  the 
same  district  marriage  takes  place  between  them, 
and  mixed  types  arise.  Where  one  people  has 
long  occupied  a  country  alone  the  type  is  very 
well-marked,  and  all  look  alike.  Thus  in  the 
Andaman  Islands,  the  little  Mincopies  look  so 
much  alike  that  a  person  needs  to  know  them 
well  to  tell  them  apart.  We,  ourselves,  are  a 
great  mixture.  Even  in  one  family  there  may  be 
tall  and  short,  light  and  dark,  blue-eyed  or  brown- 
eyed  persons.  Such  differences  are  only  found 
where  there  has  been  much  mixing  between  dif- 
ferent peoples.  In  Mexico,  once  purely  Indian, 
there  has  been  since  the  coming  of  the  Spaniards 
much  mixture,  and  to-day  a  large  part  of  the 
population  is  of  a  new  type  —  part  Indian,  part 
Spanish.  The  people  range  in  color  from  almost 
white  to  dark  brown  according  to  the  amount  of 
Spanish  or  Indian  blood  each  has. 


6  STRANGE   PEOPLES. 

II. 

THE  PEOPLES  OF  NORTH  AMERICA  :     ESKIMO. 

FOR  the  larger  part,  North  America  is  now 
occupied  by  populations  of  our  own  kind.  The 
greater  part  of  the  people  of  Canada  is  of  French 
or  English  descent ;  the  people  of  our  own  coun- 
try are  mainly  Europeans  or  of  European  descent. 
There  are  of  course  many  negroes,  especially  in 
the  South,  who  have  descended  from  African 
slaves.  There  are  also  some  Chinese,  Japanese, 
Hindus,  Malays,  and  others.  Formerly  the 
United  States  and  Canada  were  occupied  by 
Indians,  but  now  there  are  few  left,  who  mostly 
live  upon  reservations.  South  of  the  United 
States  lie  Mexico  and  Central  America.  They, 
too,  were  Indian  lands  when  first  visited  by 
white  men.  In  Northern  Mexico  a  new,  mixed 
population  live ;  Southern  Mexico  is  yet  quite 
purely  Indian.  In  Central  America  we  find  the 
mixed  Spanish-Indian  in  some  districts,  and  pure 
Indians  in  others.  In  the  northmost  part  of  the 
continent  live  the  Eskimo.  We  shall  speak 
about  the  Eskimo,  wild  Indians,  and  Mexicans. 

The  home-land  of  the  Eskimo  is  dreary. 
They  live  in  Labrador,  Greenland,  and  the  Arc- 
tic country  stretching  from  Greenland  west  to 


THE   PEOPLES   OF  NORTH   AMERICA:    ESKIMO.  7 

Northern  Alaska.  Generally,  it  is  a  land  of  snow 
and  ice,  where  it  is  impossible  to  raise  even  the 
most  hardy  plants.  The  people  are  forced  to  live 
chiefly  on  animal  food.  Not  only  is  the  weather 
usually  cold,  but  for  a  large  part  of  the  year  the 
nights  are  long  and  dreary,  and  the  sun  is  seen 
for  but  a  little  time  each  day.  In  some  districts 
the  swarms  of  mosquitoes  in  the  warmer  part  of 
the  year  are  a  great  trouble.  There  are  few  trees, 
and  those  are  stunted ;  wood  is  precious,  and 
drift  wood  is  carefully  gathered  to  make  into  tools 
and  weapons.  But  notwithstanding  his  dreary 
home  the  Eskimo  are  rarely  ugly  and  ill  tem- 
pered. 

They  are  little  people  with  yellowish  brown 
skin.  Some  Greenlanders  are  of  fair  stature. 
Their  faces  are  broad  and  round,  with  coarse 
features.  The  eyes  are  small,  dark,  and  often 
oblique,  like  the  Chinese ;  the  nose  is  narrow  at 
the  root,  but  fat ;  the  cheeks  are  round  and  full ; 
the  mouth  is  big,  with  good,  strong  teeth.  Es- 
kimo are  usually  filthy  and  appear  much  darker 
than  they  really  are. 

The  clothing  is  generally  made  of  skins  with  the 
hair  left  on.  Men  and  women  dress  much  alike. 
Trousers  are  worn  by  both :  a  shirt  or  jacket 
with  a  hood  attached  is  much  used.  That  worn 


8  STRANGE  PEOPLES. 

by  men  is  often  made  of  bird  skins,  and  the 
feather  side  is  worn  next  the  body.  The  lower 
part  of  the  legs  and  the  feet  are  encased  in  ka- 
miks,  skin  socks  and  boots.  The  little  babies  are 
carried  naked  in  a  great  pouch  at  the  back  of 
their  outer  jacket.  This  pouch  makes  a  fine 
nest  for  the  little  creatures,  as  it  is  lined  with  soft 
sealskin  or  reindeer  skin.  Formerly  —  and  per- 
haps sometimes  now  —  the  Eskimo  mothers  used 
to  wash  their  babies  by  licking  them  with  their 
tongues. 

In  Greenland  the  Eskimo  houses  are  usually 
built  of  stones  and  earth.  They  are  partly  below 
ground,  and  only  the  upper  part  shows  outside, 
like  a  mound  of  dirt.  To  enter  the  house  one 
crawls  through  a  long  and  narrow  passage,  also 
built  of  stones  and  earth,  and  which  is  also  partly 
below  ground.  The  house  is  not  large,  and  con- 
sists of  one  room.  It  is  lined  with  skins.  Wide 
benches  around  the  sides,  covered  with  skins  and 
moss,  serve  as  beds.  Several  families  live  crowded 
together  in  one  house.  One  house  in  East  Green- 
land, measuring  twenty-seven  by  fifteen  feet,  con- 
tained eight  families, — thirty-eight  persons.  The 
houses  are  so  low  that  a  tall  man  cannot  stand 
upright  in  one.  Until  lately  the  only  heating 
was  by  stone  lamps.  These  were  flat  and  hardly 


GROUP  OF  GREENLAND   ESKIMO    (NANSEN). 


10  STRANGE   PEOPLES. 

deeper  than  a  plate  :  oil  was  burned  in  them. 
They  were  kept  burning  day  and  night,  and 
above  them  were  racks  of  poles  on  which  wet 
clothing  was  dried.  In  the  middle  part  of  the 
Eskimo  land  they  build  the  quaint  round-topped 
huts  made  of  blocks  of  snow,  of  which  you  have 
often  seen  pictures. 

The  Eskimo  eat  the  flesh  of  seals,  whales,  birds, 
hares,  bears,  dogs,  foxes,  and  deer.  In  that  cold 
country  they  like  fat  meat.  Sometimes  meat 
and  fish  are  eaten  raw,  but  they  may  be  boiled  or 
fried.  Fresh,  raw  blubber  is  much  loved.  The 
skin  of  whales,  seals,  and  halibut  is  favorite  food. 
Travellers  tell  astonishing  stories  of  the  quantities 
of  candles  and  oil  that  Eskimo  eat  and  drink 
when  they  are  supplied  to  them.  The  supply  of 
plant  food  is  small :  stalks  of  angelica,  dande- 
lion, sorrel,  berries,  and  seaweed  are  used. 

The  man's  great  business  is  hunting.  He  has 
studied  the  habits  of  the  bear,  deer,  seal,  and 
walrus,  and  has  learned  just  how  to  capture  or 
kill  them.  He  has  invented  many  curious  darts, 
harpoons,  spears,  bolas,  etc.  The  bird  spears 
have  several  points  projecting  in  different  direc- 
tions from  the  shaft,  so  that  if  one  misses,  another 
may  strike,  or  several  birds  may  be  impaled  at 
once.  The  bolas  consists  of  several  pebbles 


THE   PEOPLES   OF  NORTH   AMERICA:    ESKIMO. 


II 


attached  to  cords,  which  are  knotted  together 
at  the  end.  These  are  set  to  whirling  and  then 
hurled  through  the  air  at  birds  to  entangle  them. 
The  point  of  the  harpoon  separates  from  the 
shaft  when  an  animal  is  struck ;  it  remains  in 
the  game  while  the  shaft  floats  on  the  water ;  the 
point  is  connected  by  a  line  to  a  bladder,  which, 


A   GREENLAND    ESKIMO    FISHING    (NANSEN). 

floating,  shows  where  the  animal  goes,  and  helps 
to  tire  him  out.  In  hurling  harpoons  and  darts 
the  Eskimo  uses  a  spear-throwing  stick  which 
enables  him  to  send  them  with  more  force  and 
directness  than  by  his  hand  alone. 

Much  of  his  hunting  is  done  from  his  canoe 
or  kayak.     This  is  narrow,  sharp-pointed  at  both 


12  STRANGE   PEOPLES. 

ends,  and  light.  It  consists  of  a  slight  frame- 
work over  which  skins  are  tightly  stretched. 
The  opening  above  is  but  large  enough  for  him 
to  get  his  legs  and  body  through.  When  he  has 
crept  in,  he  ties  a  collar  of  skin,  that  surrounds 
the  opening,  about  his  body,  below  his  arms,  to 
prevent  the  water  dashing  into  the  kayak,  and 
paddles  away.  His  different  weapons  are  all 
fastened  in  their  proper  places  on  top  of  the 
canoe,  where  he  can  seize  them  when  wanted. 
The  Eskimo  are  wonderful  boatmen  and  drive 
their  kayaks  over  the  waves  like  seabirds.  If 
they  tip  over,  they  easily  right  themselves. 

Formerly  the  Greenland  Eskimo  made  long 
summer  trips  along  the  coast.  The  clumsy, 
great,  woman's  boat  was  brought  out.  The  old- 
est man,  the  women,  children,  and  baggage  went 
in  it.  The  younger  men  went  in  their  kayaks. 
In  the  big  boat  the  women  rowed  while  the  old 
man  steered.  They  often  went  fifty  miles  a  day. 
At  good  spots  they  landed  and  built  a  tent  of 
thin  skins.  They  loved  these  summer  journeys 
as  our  boys  love  their  camping  trips. 


WILD   INDIANS.  13 

III. 

WILD   INDIANS. 

THERE  are  no  really  wild  Indians  left  in  the 
United  States.  Formerly  there  were  many  tribes 
of  them,  but  some  have  disappeared,  and  others 
have  lost  their  old-time  spirit.  To-day  our 
Indians  live  idly  on  the  reservations  or  work 
their  little  farms  with  fair  industry.  Sometimes 
a  tribe,  roused  by  new  wrongs  inflicted  on  it  by 
the  white  man,  takes  the  war-path ;  sometimes 
some  religious  idea  goes  from  tribe  to  tribe  creat- 
ing great  excitement,  like  the  Ghost  Dance.  But 
such  outbreaks  and  excitements  are  less  and  less 
common. 

Mr.  Lummis  has  written  of  the  Apache  warrior 
and  described  the  war  led  by  Geronimo.  It  was 
a  daring  thing.  There  was  but  a  handful  of  the 
Indians.  "  Thirty-four  men,  eight  well-grown 
boys,  ninety-two  women  and  children  "  —  that 
was  all.  Only  forty-two  who  could  be  called 
fighters.  On  May  17,  1885,  the  little  band 
broke  forth  from  their  reservation  and  headed 
for  Mexico.  It  took  the  United  States  a  year 
and  a  half  of  useless  trouble  and  expense  to 
pursue  them.  Time  after  time,  when  it  seemed 
certain  that  the  Indians  were  trapped,  '  they 


STRANGE   PEOPLES. 


vanished.  They  never  stood  for  a  pitched  battle. 
But  anywhere,  concealed  behind  rocks  or  hidden 
.in  brush,  they  picked  off  the  soldiers  sent  to 
capture  them.  The  forces  of  the  United  States 
and  Mexico  were  both  kept  constantly  upon  the 
move.  When  a  year  had  passed  about  sixty 
of  the  Indians  returned  home.  Twenty  war- 
riors, with  fourteen 
women,  kept  up  the 
battle,  when  they 
too  went  home. 
During  the  year 
and  a  half  of  fight- 
ing more  than  four 
hundred  whites 
and  Mexicans  were 
killed ;  only  two 
of  the  Indian  band 
were  destroyed. 
During  that  time 
Arizona  and  New  Mexico  and  all  the  northern 
part  of  Mexico  were  kept  in  constant  terror. 
These  Apaches  were  truly  "  wild  Indians." 

The  Navajo  are  not  wild  Indians  though  they 
are  related  to  the  Apaches  and  were  formerly 
bold  fighters.  They  live  near  the  settled  Pueblos 
and  have  learned  from  them  many  things.  They 


VICTORIO,  Ha  UPACHE  WARRIOR  (LUMMIS). 


WILD   INDIANS.  15 

are  a  prosperous  tribe,  numbering  fully  ten  thou- 
sand. They  are  well-to-do,  having  nine  thousand 
cattle,  one  hundred  and  nineteen  thousand  horses, 
and  one  million  six  hundred  thousand  sheep  and 
goats.  They  dress  well  in  their  own  way  and 
wear  many  ornaments. 

A  Navajo  house  is  a  simple  affair.  It  consists 
of  sticks  or  poles  stacked  up  so  as  to  meet  in  a 
point  above ;  they  are  then  covered  over  with 
bark,  weeds,  or  earth,  a  hole  being  left  for  an  en- 
trance and  one  at  the  top  for  smoke  escape :  an 
old  blanket  hung  over  the  entrance  hole  serves 
as  a  door.  Near  this  hut  there  is  often  a  little 
shelter  of  boughs  where  the  family  spend  most 
of  their  time  on  fine  days.  The  Navajo  also  build 
sweat  houses  for  vapor  baths.  These  are  like 
the  regular  hut,  but  have  no  smoke  hole,  and  are 
thickly  covered  over  with  earth.  Stones  are 
heated  in  a  fire  outside  and  carried  into  the  sweat 
house  between  sticks ;  water  is  dashed  over  them, 
and  in  the  steam  thus  made  the  bather  sits. 

The  Navajo  are  good  workers  in  silver  and  are 
all  the  time  improving  in  their  art.  They  make 
spherical  beads,  bracelets,  and  rings  of  several 
sorts,  breast  ornaments,  decorations  for  harness 
and  bridle,  and  many  other  things  out  of  coins  or 
other  silver  furnished  them.  The  Navajo  excel 


1 6  STRANGE   PEOPLES. 

as  weavers  of  blankets,  though  they  use  extremely 
simple  looms.  The  yarn  is  home-spun  from  wool 
taken  off  their  own  flocks ;  they  do,  however,  buy 
some  yarn  ready-made  from  the  white  man. 
Formerly  they  dyed  their  yarn  with  dyes  taken 
from  various  plants  or  colored  earths,  but  now 
they  mostly  use  white  men's  dyes.  Their  blankets 
are  firm  and  closely  woven  and  shed  water  finely. 
They  are  woven  in  bright  patterns.  All  the 
Indians  who  live  near  the  Navajo  like  their 
blankets  and  pay  good  prices  for  them.  The 
Navajo  greatly  like  turquoise  beads,  but  they  do 
not  find  turquoise  on  their  reservation.  For  these 
beads  and  ornaments  they  trade  their  fine  blankets, 
and  silverware,  and  good  ponies  with  the  Pueblo 
Indians  who  live  near  the  mines  of  this  handsome 
greenstone. 

The  Navajo  are  great  singers  and  have  many 
songs ;  but  it  is  the  men  who  sing  and  not  the 
women.  They  have  also  many  interesting  stories 
and  curious  customs,  but  we  cannot  stop  to  tell 
about  them.  The  Apaches  and  Navajo  are  but 
two  tribes  out  of  the  hundreds  of  American  Ind- 
ian tribes.  In  another  book,  American  Indians, 
you  may  read  about  their  manners  and  customs, 
their  songs  and  music,  their  stories  and  worship. 


MEXICANS.  17 

IV. 

MEXICANS. 

THOUGH  Mexico  is  our  next-door  neighbor,  life 
and  customs  are  greatly  different  there  from  our 
own.  Three  different  peoples  make  up  the  pop- 
ulation. First,  are  the  pure-blood  Spaniards,  who 
have  been  born  in  the  country;  second,  there 
are  the  Mestizos,  mixed  people,  partly  Indian, 
partly  Spanish;  third,  are  the  pure  Indians,  who 
now  form  about  five-twelfths  of  the  whole  popu- 
lation. From  the  City  of  Mexico  northward  the 
land  belongs  chiefly  to  the  mestizos ;  from  the 
City  of  Mexico  southward  Indians  prevail. 

We  will  say  nothing  of  the  Spaniards  nor  of 
the  wealthy  mestizos,  both  of  whom  are  like  Euro- 
pean whites  generally  in  their  life.  But  the  poorer 
mestizos  in  the  cities  and  towns  and  the  country 
people  generally  are  interesting.  The  dress  of 
the  country  gentleman  was  brilliant.  It  was  of 
broadcloth  or  soft-dressed  leather,  of  a  buff  or 
brown  color.  The  little,  close-fitting  jacket,  cut 
square  at  the  waist,  was  supplied  with  two  lines 
of  silver  or  steel  buttons,  and  embroidered  with 
patterns  in  gilt  or  silver  thread.  The  trousers 
fitted  almost  as  a  glove  fits  the  hands,  and  there 
was  a  double  row  of  bright  buttons  up  the  sides 


1 8  STRANGE   PEOPLES. 

of  the  legs  and  a  lacing  of  silver  cord.  The 
shoes,  which  were  tan  or  buff,  were  sharp  pointed. 
Unfortunately  this  handsome  costume  is  not 
common  nowadays.  All  mestizos,  rich  and  poor, 
still  use  the  serape,  which  is  a  long  and  narrow 
blanket,  usually  of  handsome,  bright  colors.  In 
putting  it  on,  one  corner  is  held  with  the  hand  at 
the  left  shoulder,  while  the  blanket  is  passed  behind 
the  back  and  around  the  body  in  front ;  the  free 
end  is  then  thrown  over  the  left  shoulder  and 
hangs  down  behind.  It  thus  holds  itself  in  place 
and  needs  no  tying  or  pinning.  However  poor  a 
mestizo  may  be,  he  wants  a  fine  hat  or  sombrero. 
Mexican  sombreros  have  high,  pointed  crowns, 
and  wide  brims.  They  are  made  of  palm  or 
wool.  Those  of  wool  are  of  various  colors — gray, 
brown,  black,  sometimes  red,  blue,  or  green. 
They  are  of  all  prices.  They  are  decorated  with 
bands  of  silver  or  gilt  tinsel,  and  true  silver  orna- 
ments are  made  in  many  forms  for  fastening  to 
them ;  a  fine  sombrero,  well  made  and  well  deco- 
rated, may  weigh  several  pounds  and  cost  many 
dollars. 

The  Mexicans  are  highly  polite  in  manner. 
This  is  partly  the  result  of  Spanish  training,  but  is 
also  partly  due  to  the  old  Indian  fondness  for 
ceremony.  The  movements  of  the  hands  and 


MEXICANS.  IQ 

fingers  by  which  they  greet  each  other  are  grace- 
ful and  pretty.  Friends,  meeting  each  other, 
warmly  embrace.  If  a  boy  is  spoken  to  by  a 
gentleman  he  politely  removes  his  hat  and  holds 
it  while  he  is  being  addressed  and  while  he  an- 
swers. Should  a  stranger  ask  a  little  Mexican 
his  name,  with  his  hat  off  the  boy  would  reply, 
giving  his  name  and  adding,  "Servidor  de  usted^ 
senor  "  —  "  your  servant,  sir." 

The  houses  of  poor  Mexicans  are  miserable. 
The  walls  are  usually  built  of  great  sun-dried 
adobe  bricks ;  there  is  but  one  room  and  that  is 
small.  There  are  no  windows  and  but  one  door; 
the  roof  is  flat  and  the  floor  is  of  dirt  or  stone. 
Generally  there  is  no  bed  and  there  may  be  no 
table,  and  few  if  any  chairs  or  stools.  There  are 
usually  some  rush  mats  in  the  corner,  which  are 
spread  out  upon  the  floor  at  night  for  sleeping  on. 
There  are  always  a  brasero  and  a  metate.  The 
brasero  is  a  little  kettle-shaped  earthenware  stove, 
where  food  is  cooked  over  a  wee  fire  of  charcoal. 
The  metate  is  the  grinding-stone,  on  which  the 
woman  grinds  corn-meal. 

The  three  common  foods  of  the  Mexican  poor 
are  corn-cakes,  eggs,  and  beans  —  tortillas,  huevos, 
and  frijoles.  The  corn  after  being  well  soaked 
is  ground  on  the  stone ;  the  woman,  taking  the 


2O  STRANGE   PEOPLES. 

lump  of  wet  dough,  throws  it  back  and  forth 
from  one  hand  to  the  other,  turning  it  as  she 
does  so  around  and  around.  In  this  way  she 
shapes  a  flat,  thin,  round  cake  which  she  bakes 
upon  a  round  pottery  griddle.  The  eggs  are 
usually  fried,  so  are  the  black  beans,  a  great  deal 
of  lard  being  used.  Often  they  use  no  knives, 
forks,  or  spoons  in  eating.  The  corn-cakes 
themselves  will  be  used  in  handling  the  eggs 
and  in  scooping  up  the  beans.  After  thus  serv- 
ing as  a  fork  and  a  spoon  it  will  itself  be  eaten. 

But  rich  people  in  Mexico  have  beautiful 
homes.  The  outside,  on  the  street,  is  quite  plain. 
The  house  surrounds  a  square  court  or  space 
which  is  called  ^.patio.  Passing  through  a  great 
doorway,  one  goes  from  the  street, into  the  patio. 
All  the  rooms  of  the  house  open  on  the  patio, 
either  directly  or  under  pretty  arched  galleries  or 
corridors.  The  patio  itself  may  be  planted  with 
trees  and  shrubs  bearing  sweet  flowers,  and  often 
there  is  a  fountain  at  the  centre,  with  goldfish 
in  the  basin. 

Cages  of  birds  are  hung  around  the  patio,  or 
under  the  corridors,  and  the  little  captives  delight 
with  their  brilliant  colors  or  their  sweet  songs. 
Every  one  in  Mexico  keeps  birds  as  pets,  and 
you  may  see,  even  in  the  houses  of  the  very  poor, 


MEXICANS. 


21 


mocking-birds,    doves,    parrots,    or    clarins    with 
their  clear,  whistling  note. 

Wherever  there  are  real  roads  in  Mexico,  there 
you  may  see  the  quaint  old-fashioned  ox-carts  with 
wheels  often  made  from  solid  blocks  of  wood  cut 


A   MEXICAN   OX-CART    (FROM   A   PHOTOGRAPH). 

to  shape.  Two  oxen  are  generally  yoked  to 
each,  but  when  heavy  loads  are  to  be  dragged, 
four,  six,  or  even  more  are  used  at  once. 

In  Central  Mexico  water  is  precious,  and  in 
the  cities  special  men  make  it  a  business  to  sell 
water  from  house  to  house.  The  water-carriers 


22 


STRANGE  PEOPLES. 


of  different  towns  greatly  differ  in  the  form 
and  size  of  the  jars  they  use  and  in  the  mode 
of  carrying  them.  In  the  city  of  Mexico,  where 
they  are  becoming  an  uncommon  sight,  the 


MEXICAN    WATER-CARRIER    (FROM   A   PHOTOGRAPH). 

man  carries  two  water-jars  of  metal,  one  in 
front,  one  behind,  hanging  by  straps  from  his 
shoulders  and  cap ;  in  Guadalajara  a  number  of 
round  pottery  water-jars  are  set  into  a  sort  of  a 
frame  mounted  on  a  cart  or  barrow ;  in  San  Luis 


MEXICANS.  23 

Potosi  there  are  four  oval  jars  set  into  a  wheel- 
barrow with  an  enormous  wheel ;  in  Guanajua- 
to they  use  great  slender  jars  nearly  as  tall  as 
the  man  himself,  with  a  ring  of  wood  at  the 
bottom  to  hold  them  when  they  are  set  on  the 
ground. 

In  the  centre  of  every  Mexican  city  or  town  of 
any  importance  is  the  plaza  or  public  square. 
Sometimes  this  is  surrounded  by  handsome  build- 
ings and  laid  out  with  care  as  a  garden.  Among 
orange  trees  laden  with  sweet  blossoms  and 
golden  fruit,  rose  bushes,  banana  trees,  there 
wind  pleasant  walks  with  benches  in  the  shade, 
where  rich  or  poor  may  rest.  Usually  at  the 
centre  of  the  plaza  there  is  a  band-stand  where 
on  certain  evenings  every  week  fine  concerts  are 
given. 

The  plaza  is  the  pleasure-spot  and  gathering- 
place  of  all.  To  it  flock  venders  of  all  kinds, 
with  cakes,  candies,  fruits,  sugar-cane,  peanuts, 
toys,  etc.  Some  of  the  wares  are  strange,  and 
I  am  sure  you  could  not  guess  them.  There 
goes  a  man  with  a  lot  of  pretty  colored  balls  like 
wee  toy  balloons;  they  are  red,  white,  blue,  yel- 
low; they  are  chewing-gum!  There  is  another 
man  with  a  great  crumpled  sheet  of  some  whit- 
ish brown  stuff ;  children  flock  to  him  with  their 


24  STRANGE  PEOPLES. 

coppers,  and  he  cuts  off  pieces  which  they  walk 
away  munching ;  it  is  fried  pigskin  ! 

Mexicans  delight  in   holidays,  and   they  cele- 
brate a  great  many.     The  2d  of  November,  the 


OTOMI   INDIAN   GIRLS    (FROM   A   PHOTOGRAPH). 

day  of  the  dead,  is  a  great  day.  For  several 
days  beforehand  thousands  of  strange  toys  have 
been  offered  for  sale.  Some  are  skulls  made 
of  sugar  or  clay ;  there  are  skeletons  of  various 
sizes  and  materials,  corpses,  funeral  processions, 


MEXICANS.  25 

grave  monuments.  These  are  all  called  "deaths/ 
When  the  day  of  the  dead  comes  children  expect 
to  receive  these  strange  presents.  When  they 
rise  in  the  morning  their  first  cry  is,  "  Papa, 
mamma,  give  me  my  death."  There  is  a  great 
excitement  the  day  before  Easter.  All  down  the 
streets  may  be  seen  figures  of  Judas  hung  up 
above  the  heads  of  the  passers.  In  the  big  cities 
there  will  be  hundreds  of  them  of  all  sizes  and 
shapes.  They  are  made  of  cardboard  and  paper, 
and  have  fireworks  inside.  At  a  certain  hour 
they  are  all  set  on  fire,  and  burn  and  explode  at 
a  great  rate,  much  to  the  delight  of  the  boys  and 
girls.  But  these  are  only  two  of  many  occasions 
during  each  year  to  which  little  Mexicans  look 
forward  with  delight. 

We  have  spoken  only  of  the  mestizos.  The 
Indians  are  also  interesting.  There  are  many 
tribes,  all  with  their  own  customs,  and  many  with 
their  old  languages  still  in  use.  In  the  State 
of  Oaxaca  alone  there  are  fifteen  languages  still 
spoken.  Among  the  many  Mexican  Indian 
tribes  perhaps  the  Aztecs,  Otomis,  Tarascans, 
Zapotecs,  and  Mayas  are  the  best  known. 


26  STRANGE   PEOPLES. 

V. 

SOUTH   AMERICAN   PEOPLES 

SOUTH  AMERICA,  like  North  America,  was  oc- 
cupied by  Indians  at  the  time  of  the  discovery. 
The  tribes  differed  in  appearance,  language,  and 
customs,  but  all  were  true  American  Indians. 
To  be  sure,  some  tribes  were  dark,  others  light ; 
some  were  tall,  others  short;  some  were  true  sav- 
ages, while  others  were  almost  civilized. 

Probably  the  most  advanced  tribes  lived  along 
the  Pacific  border.  In  Colombia,  Ecuador,  Peru, 
Bolivia,  and  Chili  many  relics  of  ancient  art  and 
many  ruins  of  old  buildings  are  found.  Here  and 
there  east  of  the  mountains  similar  evidences  of 
culture  are  found,  but  they  are  less  known.  Best 
known  of  all  are  those  of  Peru. 

The  ancient  Indians  of  Peru  were  industrious 
and  hard  workers.  Their  rulers,  the  Incas,  were 
called  "  the  children  of  the  sun."  The  old  Peru- 
vians had  important  towns  and  cities.  They  dili- 
gently cultivated  their  fields  and  irrigated  them 
by  great  systems  of  canals.  They  wove  capital 
cotton  cloth,  from  which  they  made  good  clothing. 
Their  cloth  was  often  decorated  with  pretty  in- 
woven designs  in  colored  threads.  They  tamed 
and  bred  the  llama,  and  trained  it  for  a  pack  ani- 


SOUTH    AMERICAN   PEOPLES.  2/ 

mal.  They  could  not  write,  but  kept  accounts  by 
knotted  cords  called  quipus.  Differently  colored 
cords  were  used  for  different  things,  and  knots  of 
varying  sizes  stood  for  varying  numbers.  Thus 
an  owner  of  llamas  might  use  a  white  cord  for 
males,  a  reddish  cord  for  females,  and  a  yellow 


PERUVIAN   ANTIQUITIES    (RATZEL). 

cord  for  young.  A  simple  knot  might  stand  for 
one,  and  larger  knots  might  mean  five,  ten,  or 
twenty.  In  this  way  the  herder  might  keep  exact 
account  of  his  animals. 

The  old  Peruvians  were  great  potters  and 
thousands  of  their  old  water  vessels  and  food 
dishes,  which  were  buried  with  the  dead,  have 


28  STRANGE   PEOPLES. 

been  dug  up.  These  had  curious  forms  and 
were  often  adorned  with  colored  patterns.  Some 
of  these  jars  were  shaped  like  human  faces, 
human  figures,  or  animals.  Sometimes  they 
were  "  whistling  jars,"  which  were  so  made  that 
they  whistled  when  water  was  poured  in  or  out  of 
them.  The  old  Peruvians  were  skilled  in  work- 
ing copper,  silver,  and  gold,  and  made  many 
ornaments  and  figures  in  these  metals. 

They  disposed  of  their  dead  carefully,  and 
many  of  the  dried  bodies,  or  "mummies"  have 
been  found  in  the  ancient  graves.  The  dead 
were  folded  into  a  sitting  position  and  bound ; 
they  were  then  wrapped  about  with  fine  cloths. 
After  the  last  wrapping  was  in  place,  it  was 
painted,  a  false  face  was  marked  on  the  cloth  or 
placed  over  the  proper  place,  and  imitation  ear 
ornaments  were  hung  at  the  sides  of  the  head. 
Many  objects  were  buried  with  the  dead,  — 
vessels  of  food  and  drink,  and  the  objects 
they  had  used  in  life,  —  with  a  woman,  cotton, 
spindle,  and  work-basket ;  with  a  man,  weapons 
and  ornaments.  The  old  Peruvians  built  fine 
public  buildings,  and  temples  of  stone  and  some 
ruins  of  such  buildings  still  remain. 

After  the  discovery  of  America  two  nations 
chiefly  gained  possession  of  South  America  — 


SOUTH   AMERICAN   PEOPLES.  2Q 

Spain  and  Portugal.  Portugal  secured  what  is 
now  Brazil ;  Spain  gained  almost  all  the  rest. 
The  Spaniard  settled  chiefly  where  the  native 
tribes  had  already  been  living  a  quiet  and  settled 
life.  In  those  districts,  just  as  in  Mexico,  there 
was  much  mixture  between  the  two  peoples,  and 
to-day  there  is  a  large  mestizo  population,  whose 
mode  of  life  has  been  influenced  by  that  of  Spain. 
In  Peru,  Brazil,  Chili,  and  the  Argentine  Republic 
we  find  lands  which  are  making  progress,  and  in 
whose  beautiful  cities  are  fine  buildings,  handsome 
parks,  and  artistic  statuary.  It  is  a  great  mistake 
to  think  of  any  of  the  South  American  countries 
as  uncivilized. 

Still,  even  in  countries  like  Peru  and  Chili, 
centres  of  old  and  interesting  settled  life,  there 
are  plenty  of  pure-blood  Indians  to-day.  These 
still  keep  up  much  of  their  old  life  and  customs. 
And  when,  instead  of  looking  at  the  old  culture 
centres,  we  examine  the  tribes  which  were  truly 
wild  at  the  time  of  the  conquest,  we  find  little 
change.  On  the  eastern  slope  of  the  Andes,  in 
the  valleys  of  those  streams  which  unite  to  form 
the  Amazon,  in  the  dense  forests  which  border 
that  mighty  river  itself,  are  many  truly  savage 
tribes  to-day  —  or,  when  not  savage,  in  low  bar- 
barism. Some  of  these  tribes  use  the  blow-gun 


30  STRANGE   PEOPLES. 

in  hunting.  This  is  a  tube,  eight  or  ten  feet 
long,  made  from  a  cane  or  bored  out  of  wood. 
It  is  carefully  straightened  and  smoothed  on  the 
inside.  The  shaft  of  the  little  arrow  used  with 
this  is  slender  and  ends  in  a  sharp  point ;  a  tuft 
of  cottony  material,  which  just  fits  the  bore  of  the 
blow-gun,  is  wrapped  about  the  upper  end  of  the 
arrow  and  fastened.  When  the  arrow  is  placed  in 
the  blow-gun,  this  is  raised  to  the  lips,  and  a 
sharp  puff  of  air  from  the  mouth  sends  the  little 
weapon  on  its  way.  These  arrows  go  a  long 
distance  and  with  great  force ;  as  they  make  no 
noise  they  are  especially  good  for  bird-hunting. 
The  arrows  not  only  kill  by  their  sharpness,  but 
by  poison,  which  is  put  on  their  tips.  Several  of 
these  Indian  tribes  know  how  to  make  deadly 
poisons,  chiefly  from  plants. 

Many  of  these  wild  tribes  delight  in  bright 
feathers.  They  make  necklaces,  head-dresses, 
arm-rings,  bracelets,  leg-bands,  aprons,  and  capes 
from  them.  Not  that  a  single  tribe  makes  all 
of  these  many  ornaments ;  some  will  use  the 
feathers  in  one  way,  others  in  another.  Among 
the  tribes  of  Brazil,  the  Botocudo  are  famous  for 
the  ornaments  they  wear  in  their  lips  and  ears. 
These  ornaments  are  mere  disks  or  plugs  of 
wood,  which  are  inserted  in  holes  pierced  in  the 


SOUTH  AMERICAN   PEOPLES. 


ears  and  lower  lip.  Some  Botocudo  lip  plugs 
are  three  inches  in  diameter.  Such  a  lip  orna- 
ment holds  the  lip  out  almost  like  a  shelf. 

In  eastern  Ecuador  and  on  the  eastern  slope 
of  the  Andes,  near  the  Amazonian  headwaters, 
are  several  tribes  who  cut 
off  the  heads  of  slain 
enemies  as  trophies.  Best 
known  of  these  tribes  are 
the  Mundurucus  and  Jiva- 
ros.  The  Mundurucus, 
after  cutting  off  the  heads, 
paint  the  faces,  comb  the 
hair,  add  feather  orna- 
ments, and  then  so  dry 
the  head  that  it  retains  its 
natural  size  and  form.  The  heads  that  are  kept 
by  the  Jivaros  are  even  more  curious.  After 
they  have  been  cut  off  the  bones  of  the  skull 
are  removed  piecemeal  from  below.  The  heads 
are  then  shrunken  by  means  of  astringent  fluids, 
smoke,  and  pressure,  until  they  are  no  larger 
than  the  fist.  The  features  retain  their  form, 
but  everything  is  reduced  in  size.  It  is  hard 
to  believe,  when  seeing  one  of  these,  that  it 
could  ever  have  been  a  full-sized  human  head. 
Believing  that  the  spirit  of  the  dead  man  will 


BOTOCUDO  INDIAN  WITH  LIP 
PLUG  (TYLOR). 


32  STRANGE  PEOPLES. 

curse   them   and    thus    harm    them,    the    Jivaros 
sew  the  lips  of  the  trophy  together  with  cords. 

In  Guiana  some  of  the  Indians  make  beautiful 
baskets  of  split  cane.  The  splints  are  sometimes 
stained  black  or  brown,  and  thus  pretty  pat- 
terns are  woven  in  color.  These  patterns  look 
like  simple  geometrical  designs  —  diamonds, 
meanders,  etc.  —  but  often  they  are  really  pic* 
tures  of  snakes,  monkeys,  or  human  beings. 
These  tribes  use  cassava  for  making  bread.  The 
roots  or  tubers,  when  first  dug,  are  poisonous 
and  unfit  for  food.  These  are  first  grated  on  a 
board  set  with  sharp  bits  of  stone.  The  shredded 
or  grated  pulp  is  then  packed  into  a  great  tube 
of  basketwork  closed  at  the  bottom.  This  is 
hung  to  a  beam  and  a  pole  is  passed  through  a 
loop  at  the  lower  end.  By  turning  this  pole  the 
basket  tube  is  twisted,  and  the  cassava  pulp  is 
squeezed  so  tightly  that  the  poisonous  sap  runs 
out,  leaving  the  wholesome  flour. 


THE   PEOPLES   OF   EUROPE:    FAIR   WHITES.  33 

* 

VI. 

THE    PEOPLES    OF   EUROPE  :    FAIR   WHITES. 

EUROPE  is  the  continent  of  white  peoples. 
While  there  are  white  peoples  in  other  continents, 
they  are  there  as  invaders.  But  even  among  the 
whites  of  Europe  itself  there  are  differences.  Most 
of  the  Northern  peoples,  like  the  Swedes,  Dutch, 
Russians,  Germans,  are  light  peoples,  with  deli- 
cate skin,  light  hair,  blue  eyes,  and  rather  long 
heads.  They  are  mostly  tall  in  stature.  The 
Southern  peoples  are  dark  —  Spaniards,  Portu- 
guese, Italians,  Greeks,  are  all  brunettes.  They 
are  shorter,  more  slender,  with  dark  skin,  dark 
eyes,  and  black  hair.  In  the  region  between  these 
two  types  of  European  whites  there  are  peoples  of 
medium  stature,  rather  stout,  somewhat  dark,  with 
broad,  round  heads.  Mr.  Ripley  names  these 
three  kinds  of  Europeans  —  Teutonic,  Mediter- 
ranean, and  Alpine  peoples.  We  will  speak  sim- 
ply of  light  whites  and  dark  whites.  All  the 
Europeans  we  have  named  speak  languages  that 
are  much  alike,  belonging  to  a  group  of  languages 
to  which  the  name  Aryan  is  given.  There  are, 
however,  some  peoples  of  Europe  who  do  not 
speak  Aryan  languages.  Such  are  the  Basques, 
Finns,  Lapps,  and  Turks. 


34  STRANGE   PEOPLES. 

All  the  fair  whites  are  so  like  ourselves  that  it 

p 

will  hardly  do  to  call  them  Strange  Peoples.  Yet 
we  would  find  many  curious  things  even  in  those 
who  are  most  like  ourselves,  as  the  Hollanders. 
You  know  something  about  little  Holland  ?  It  is 
a  low,  flat  country,  and  much  of  it  was  formerly 
under  the  sea.  The  industrious  Hollanders  have 
built  great  dikes  or  walls  to  keep  the  sea  back, 
and,  by  pumping  out  the  water,  reclaimed  the 
land.  A  rich  and  fertile  land  it  is,  intersected  by 
a  network  of  little  canals.  Everywhere  you  go  in 
Holland  you  see  windmills.  Because  the  coun- 
try is  so  low  and  flat,  there  are  no  rapid  streams 
to  furnish  water-power  for  mills,  so  they  must  use 
the  wind.  At  some  places,  like  Zaandam,  hun- 
dreds may  be  seen  at  once.  With  us  windmills 
are  simply  for  pumping  water,  but  in  Holland  they 
do  many  kinds  of  work.  Some  are  flouring  mills, 
others  are  sawmills  for  cutting  timber,  others  run 
oil  presses,  etc. 

The  fishing  towns  of  Holland  are  interesting. 
Every  traveller  wants  to  see  Vollendam  and 
Scheveningen  and  the  hamlets  on  the  Island  of 
Marken.  The  men  and  women  in  these  towns 
are  kind-hearted,  simple  people,  who  are  proud  of 
their  own  village  and  think  their  own  dress  finer 

O 

than  that  of  other  towns.     Each  of  these  fishing 


THE   PEOPLES  OF   EUROPE:    FAIR   WHITES. 


35 


villages  has  its  characteristic  costume.  The  men 
of  the  Island  of  Marken  wear  close-fitting  jackets, 
which  end  at  the  waist,  and  great,  baggy,  knee- 
breeches.  Marken  women  wear  round,  white  caps, 
fitting  the  head 
closely,  with  an 
open-work  border, 
and  a  bright 
waist,  with  striped 
sleeves,  over  the 
front  of  which  is 
a  square  of  hand- 
somely embroi- 
dered cloth.  Lit- 
tle girls  all  through 
Holland  dress  ex- 
actly like  women. 
But  for  her  child 
face  you  would 
take  the  little  girl 
from  Schevenin- 
gen  to  be  a  grown 

person.  She  wears  a  dainty  white  cap  pinned 
on  with  two  great  round-headed  pins.  Her 
ample  dress  quite  reaches  the  ground ;  her  white 
apron  is  neatly  tied,  and  her  purple  shawl,  tightly 
wrapped  about  her  shoulders,  is  demurely  crossed, 


FISH-GIRL  OF  SCHEVENINC.EN,  HOLLAND 
(FROM  A  PHOTOGRAPH). 


36  STRANGE  PEOPLES. 

and  the  ends  are  tucked  under  her  apron  strings. 
She  wears  the  common  wooden  shoes  of  the 
country.  A  crowd  of  boys  running  in  such 
shoes  over  the  hard  paved  roads  makes  a  great 
clattering.  On  Sunday  the  wooden  shoes  of  men 
and  boys  are  usually  fresh  whitened ;  if  their 
owners  enter  a  house,  they  leave  the  shoes  out- 


BOATS    MADE   FROM    SHOES,    HOLLAND    (HAITE). 

side  the  door.  I  am  sure  you  cannot  guess 
what  little  Dutch  boys  do  with  old  wooden 
shoes.  They  make  capital  little  fishing  boats 
out  of  them,  which  they  sail  on  the  canal.  The 
real  big  fishing  boats  are  really  shaped  very 
much  like  shoes  too. 

Edam  cheese  is  one  of  Holland's  famous  prod- 
ucts. The  people  are  wonderfully  careful  in  mak- 
ing it.  They  take  great  care  of  the  cows  ;  when 


THE   PEOPLES  OF   EUROPE:    FAIR   WHITES.  37 

the  weather  is  wet  or  the  flies  troublesome,  they 
put  blankets  over  them  to  protect  them.  The 
stables  where  they  keep  them  are  as  clean  as  soap 
and  water  will  make  them ;  the  stalls  are  made  of 
handsomely  planed  wood,  and  there  is  a  window 
at  each  one  to  let  in  light  and  to  give  the  cows  a 
chance  to  look  out  on  the  green  meadows.  The 
cheeses  are  made  of  cream  and  are  pressed  in 
clean,  white,  earthenware  moulds,  into  the  shape 
and  size  of  cannon  balls.  They  are  then  colored 
and  sent  to  market.  The  greatest  cheese  market 
of  Holland  is  at  Alkmaar.  Scores  of  boatfuls 
are  there  unloaded  every  market  day.  The  market 
is  at  the  water's  edge.  The  cheeses  are  colored 
orange  or  red,  and  are  oiled  and  wiped  till  they 
shine.  They  are  stacked  in  piles  like  cannon 
balls. 

Among  famous  Dutch  towns  is  Delft,  where 
they  make  a  beautiful  white  porcelain  with  blue 
designs,  which  is  a  favorite  everywhere:  then 
there  is  Schiedam,  where  they  make  "  Schnapps," 
or  gin,  which  is  as  famous  probably  as  the  Delft 
ware,  but  not  so  praiseworthy ;  then  there  is 
Haarlem,  famous  for  its  flower  gardens,  its  tulips 
and  begonias ;  at  Leiden  there  is  a  noble  old 
university  and  a  museum  where  one  may  see 
objects  made  and  used  by  all  the  Strange  Peoples 


38  STRANGE   PEOPLES. 

we  shall  study  and  many  more.  Holland  has  had 
many  great  artists,  and  their  works  are  preserved 
in  the  art  galleries  at  Rotterdam,  Leiden,  The 
Hague,  Haarlem,  and  Amsterdam.  Holland  was 
once  the  great  commercial  and  naval  nation  of  the 
world :  that  day  is  past,  but  her  ships  still  sail  all 
seas ;  the  little  kingdom  is  still  a  centre  of  intelli- 
gence, industry,  and  education,  and  the  thrifty  and 
wealthy  Dutch  are  a  worthy  example  of  the  Fair 
Whites. 

VII. 

DARK  WHITES. 

AMONG  the  dark  whites  of  Europe  the  Portu- 
guese, Spanish,  Italians,  and  Greeks  are  conspicu- 
ous. In  speech  they  are  kin  to  each  other,  and 
to  the  fair  whites.  How  different  they  are  other- 
wise !  They  are  handsomer  in  face,  more  lithe 
and  graceful  in  body,  more  quickly  aroused,  more 
changeable  in  purpose,  than  the  fair  whites.  Their 
faces,  their  gestures,  their  movements,  more  em- 
phatically betray  their  emotions.  They  live  more 
in  the  present  than  the  somewhat  sober  and  som- 
bre northern  peoples. 

Just  now  people  are  apt  to  forget  how  much 
we  owe  to  the  dark  whites.  They  have  done 
much  for  the  world.  Greece  taught  Europe  to 


DARK   WHITES. 


39 


think,  developed  an  art  and  architecture  which 
impressed  the  world,  formed  a  literature  and 
theatre  that  have  never  been  surpassed  ;  Rome 
taught  mankind  government  and  law ;  Italy  has 
produced  the  greatest  paintings ;  Spain  discov- 
ered the  New  World.  These  are  a  few  of  the 
achievements  of  the  dark  whites.  Nor  are  they 
idle  now ;  in  Greece  and  Italy  to-day,  in  Spain 
and  Portugal,  art,  in- 
vention, literature, 
and  science  are  mak- 
ing rapid  progress. 

Every  one  has  seen 
Italians.  Those  who 
come  to  us  are  most- 
ly poor,  and  badly 
represent  their  peo- 
ple. They  are  dark 
skinned,  dark  brown 
or  black  eyed,  black 
and  curly  haired,  and 
have  fine  and  regular 
features.  They  are, 


ITALIAN   CHILD    (MILN). 


perhaps,     the     hand- 
somest of    European 
peoples.     They  love   the   company  of  others   in 
their  work   and   play.     They  delight   in   bright 


4O  STRANGE   PEOPLES. 

colors,  and  the  women  fasten  bright  kerchiefs 
about  their  dark  hair,  fold  a  brilliant  cloth  across 
the  breast,  and  hang  gaudy  earrings  in  their 
ears.  The  Italian  language  is  sweet  and  lively, 
and  the  people  who  speak  it  are  impulsive  and 
sunny  in  disposition,  though  easily  angered,  and 
quick  to  resent  an  injury. 

Perhaps  old  Rome  was  the  greatest  city  the 
world  has  known.  The  Roman  people  ruled  the 
known  nations,  and  their  armies  and  governors 
were  in  all  lands.  Fine  roads  connected  the  city 
with  every  part  of  the  Empire,  and  fragments  of 
these  roads  still  exist  though  almost  two  thou- 
sand years  have  passed.  Rome  was  a  centre  to 
which  flocked  the  painters,  sculptors,  poets,  and 
orators  of  the  world ;  there  they  produced  their 
great  works.  At  Rome  were  grand  temples, 
great  public  buildings,  the  mighty  Coliseum 
where  public  games  were  held.  Ruins  of  these 
famous  structures  are  still  visited,  and  show  the 
ancient  grandeur  of  the  dark  whites  of  by-gone 
days. 

Not  far  from  Rome  are  ruins  of  Pompeii  and 
Herculaneum,  towns  where  many  of  the  Romans 
had  their  country  homes.  In  the  year  79,  more 
than  eighteen  hundred  years  ago,  Vesuvius  burst 
forth  in  a  terrible  eruption  and  destroyed  the  two 


DARK  WHITES.  41 

cities.  Pompeii  was  buried  under  a  sheet  of 
"  ashes,"  while  Herculaneum  was  overflowed  by 
streams  of  lava.  For  centuries  no  one  knew  that 
underneath  these  layers  of  "  ashes "  and  lava  a 
great  pa'rt  of  the  two  cities  lay  undestroyed. 
Recently,  by  digging  away  the  covering,  they 
have  discovered  many  curious  and  interesting 
things.  House  walls,  paintings,  tools,  weapons, 
ornaments,  all  remain  to  tell  us  how  the  ancient 
Romans  worked  and  lived. 

But  later  Rome  was  also  great.  It  was  the 
central  city  of  Christendom,  the  seat  of  the  Pope's 
power,  the  location  of  the  Vatican.  For  this 
reason  it  was  the  place  where  master  minds  dealt 
with  great  problems,  where  great  architects  de- 
signed wonderful  cathedrals,  where  painters  pro- 
duced the  famous  pictures  of  the  world.  Nor  is 
Rome  small  to-day.  She  is  no  longer  the  mis- 
tress of  the  world ;  the  temporal  power  of  the 
church  has  been  lessened ;  but  modern  Rome  is 
still  the  capital  of  a  great  nation,  a  centre  of 
enlightenment,  a  hive  of  industry;  a  shrine  to 
which  the  lovers  of  art  and  beauty  make  their 
pilgrimage. 

Even  the  poorest  and  meanest  in  Italy  love 
music,  painting,  and  statuary.  Everywhere  in 
public  places  one  sees  sculptures  in  fine  marble 


42  STRANGE  PEOPLES. 

Such  works  in  our  own  land  would  run  some 
risk  of  injury  or  destruction,  but  in  Italy  no  one 
thinks  of  harming  them.  The  Italians  all  love 
music,  and  most  of  them  know  how  to  play  some 
instrument. 

Italian  mosaics  and  cameos  are  famous.  At 
Florence  particularly  the  making  of  mosaics  is 
important.  Mosaics  are  pictures  made  by  fitting 
together  wee  bits  of  stones,  enamels,  or  glasses 
of  bright  colors.  A  pair  of  cuff  buttons  or  a 
brooch  may  bear  a  spray  of  flowers,  which  looks 
like  delicate  painting,  but  is  really  made  by  the 
fitting  together  of  these  bits  of  stone.  Cameos  are 
cut  from  shell  or  onyx.  Many  sea  shells  are  com- 
posed of  layers  of  different  colors  of  shelly  matter. 
Onyx  is  a  stone  which  is  layered  with  different 
colors.  A  cameo  is  a  piece  of  carving  cut  in 
such  materials  so  that  the  different  colored  layers 
give  different  parts  of  the  design.  The  work  is 
beautiful  and  delicate.  Perhaps  the  finest  cameo 
cutting  is  done  at  Naples. 

The  Italian  enjoys  games.  Several  kinds  of 
ball  games  are  favorites  with  him.  He  delights 
in  throwing  dice  and  other  games  of  chance. 
Boys  are  fond  of  morra.  There  are  two  players : 
at  a  given  signal  each  extends  one  hand  with  a 
certain  number  of  fingers  stretched  out;  at  the 


BASQUES.  43 

same  moment  each  calls  how  many  fingers  he 
thinks  both  will  have  out.  If  either  guesses 
right,  he  wins.  This  is  a  very  old  game,  and  was 
played  in  the  time  of  Rome's  imperial  grandeur. 
The  gayest  time  of  the  year  for  young  and 
old  is  the  Carnival.  Every  one  is  on  the  streets. 
They  wear  masks  and  are  hideously  dressed  — 
like  clowns,  deformed  and  distorted  beings,  devils, 
animals.  They  make  a  great  din  and  play  all 
kinds  of  pranks.  They  throw  flowers  and  paper 
cut  to  bits  on  one  another  and  sprinkle  passers-by 
with  water.  Men,  women,  and  children  all  take 
part  in  this  wild  fun.  The  more  ignorant  Italians 
are  superstitious.  They  fear  witchcraft  and  the 
evil  eye,  and  most  of  the  lower  class  carry  some 
lucky  stone  or  other  object  to  protect  them  against 
such  dangers. 

VIII. 

BASQUES. 

ON  both  sides  of  the  Pyrenees  Mountains,  in 
France  and  in  Spain,  there  dwells  a  people  which 
does  not  speak  an  Aryan  language,  the  Basques. 
Many  writers  who  have  studied  the  Basque  lan- 
guage have  wondered  how  it  came  to  exist  alone 
in  the  midst  of  so  many  languages  that  have  no 
relation  to  it. 


44  STRANGE   PEOPLES. 

The  people  who  speak  this  language  are  called 
French  Basques  or  Spanish  Basques  according 
to  which  side  of  the  Pyrenees  is  their  home. 
They  differ  somewhat.  The  Spanish  Basques 
are  usually  short,  clear-complexioned,  with  rather 
long  and  narrow  heads  and  brown  or  black  hair. 
The  French  Basques  are  frequently  quite  tall, 
have  much  broader  heads,  and  sometimes  light 
hair.  Neither  French  nor  Spanish  Basques  are 
pure  in  blood,  being  much  mixed  with  their 
neighbors.  Still,  it  is  said  that  a  Basque  can 
generally  be  known  by  his  face.  The  upper, 
forward  part  of  his  head  is  wide  and  bulging, 
while  his  face  is  long,  narrow,  and  ends  in  a 
pointed  chin. 

The  Basques  are  famous  for  their  good  health, 
their  fine  forms,  and  their  quick  and  graceful 
movements.  They  are  industrious,  hard  workers. 
In  the  uplands  the  men  are  shepherds,  in  the 
lowlands  farmers  and  herders,  and  on  the  coast 
fishermen  and  sailors.  In  the  cities  they  work 
at  the  docks,  loading  and  unloading  vessels. 
Women  work  at  this  hard  work  just  the  same 
as  men.  Formerly  the  men  engaged  much  in 
piracy.  Basque  women  are  much  employed  as 
nurses  in  Spanish  families. 

They  are  a  gay  and  happy  people.     Men  play 


BASQUES.  45 

tennis,  and  women  play  skittles.  Formerly  they 
had  many  dances ;  one  only  of  these  is  still  kept. 
It  is  danced  by  men  only,  and  though  the  steps 
are  difficult,  the  dance  is  slow  and  grave.  They 
delight  in  poetry  and  are  able  to  compose  rap- 
idly. Verneau  says :  "  One  may  say  that  in  the 
land  of  the  Basques  every  mountaineer  is  born 
a  poet,  but  the  poetry  is  made  up  on  the  spur 
of  the  moment.  In  the  midst  of  the  delights  of 
a  feast,  some  one  at  the  table  rises.  All  noise 
ceases.  Complete  silence  is  made  about  him. 
He  sings ;  the  stanzas  follow  one  another  with- 
out effort  and  without  fatigue.  His  song  is 
grave  and  measured ;  both  the  air  and  words 
are  made  at  the  moment." 

The  Basques,  especially  those  living  in  the  moun- 
tains, are  proud,  happy,  and  independent.  They 
are  easily  angered  and  quick  to  fight.  They  love 
their  old  life  and  customs  and  dislike  changes. 
They  still  use  many  old-fashioned  things  such 
as  the  clumsy  ox-cart,  with  great,  solid  wooden 
wheels  and  heavy  wooden  axle.  The  old  dress  has 
disappeared  in  many  places,  but  is  picturesque. 
Men  wear  rather  loose  and  baggy  trousers,  a 
close-fitting  vest,  a  sort  of  blouse  or  jacket  that 
reaches  only  to  the  waist,  a  wide,  white  collar 
turned  down  pver  the  neck  of  the  blouse,  and 


46  STRANGE   PEOPLES. 

a  loose  necktie  with  streaming  ends.  They  wear 
a  loose  cap  jauntily  on  the  head.  Men  and  women 
both  delight  in  bright  colors. 

Their  food  is  simple,  but  they  are  always  ready 
to  share  it  with  guests.  Strangers  are  welcome 
to  the  best  the  family  has,  which  is  generally 
corn  bread  and  cider,  with  bean  soup  and  boiled 


BASQUE  CART    (VERNEAU). 

cabbage.  They  celebrate  Christmas  by  killing  a 
pig,  the  flesh  of  which  gives  the  family  a  feast  for 
a  long  time. 

They  are  proud  of  their  strange  and  difficult 
language,  which  they  call  Euskaric.  They  call 
themselves  Euskaldanac,  which  means  "  the 
speakers,"  just  as  if  other  people  using  a  differ- 
ent speech  did  not  know  how  to  speak  at  all. 


FINNS.  47 

The  Basques  have  produced  some  famous 
men.  The  great  sailor  Magellan,  who  circum- 
navigated the  globe  and  discovered  the  Philip- 
pines in  1521,  was  a  Basque.  So  were  Ignacio 
de  Loyola  and  Francis  Xavier,  who  founded  the 
Society  of  Jesus  or  the  Jesuits.  Within  recent 
years  many  of  the  Basques  have  left  their  old 
home  and  gone  to  seek  fortunes  in  new  lands. 
In  all  more  than  two  hundred  thousand  have 
migrated,  some  to  Havana  and  Mexico,  but  many 
more  to  Montevideo  and  Buenos  Ayres. 


IX. 

FINNS. 

FINLAND,  forming  part  of  the  Russian  Empire, 
is  bordered  on  the  south  and  west  by  the  Baltic 
Sea  (Gulfs  of  Finland  and  Bothnia)  and  stretches 
as  a  narrow  band  almost  north  and  south.  There 
has  been  much  discussion  as  to  just  what  and 
who  the  Finns  are.  Some  writers  think  them 
true  white  Europeans  related  to  the  long-headed, 
fair  whites ;  others  believe  them  Mongolians  who 
have  moved  from  Asia  into  Europe,  where  they 
have  changed  their  color  and  appearance  —  partly 
by  marrying  with  fair  whites  and  partly  by  the 


48  STRANGE   PEOPLES. 

influence  of  climate  and  other  conditions  —  but 
who  retain  their  old  Asiatic  language. 

Whichever  is  right,  the  Finns  are  an  interest- 
ing people.  There  are  about  one  million  and  a 
half  of  pure  blood  dwelling  in  Finland.  There 
are  two  quite  unlike  types,  —  the  Tavastland  and 
Karelian  Finns.  The  Tavastland  Finns  are 
rather  tall  and  large  built,  with  a  large  and  broad 
head,  a  long  and  large  face,  light  skin,  light  hair, 
and  large  and  light  eyes.  They  are  rather  quiet, 
a  little  morose  though  kindly,  and  have  a  great 
love  for  their  old  life  and  customs.  The  Kare- 
lian Finns  are  darker,  with  dark  brown  or  black 
hair  and  dark  eyes.  They  were  quite  tall,  but 
less  strongly  built  than  the  Tavastland  Finns; 
they  have  a  longer  head  and  smaller  head  and 
face ;  they  are  more  lively,  gay,  and  enterprising. 
It  is  the  Karelians  who  more  nearly  resemble  the 
Finns  of  Asia,  Ostiaks,  and  Samoyeds.  Both 
kinds  of  Finns,  though  differing  in  appearance, 
speak  one  language,  which  is  not  Aryan,  and  is 
related  to  the  languages  of  Northern  Asia.  The 
Lapps,  Turks,  and  some  other  peoples  of  South- 
eastern Europe  speak  tongues  related  to  the 
Finnish. 

In  the  cities  and  towns  of  Finland  the  people 
are  much  like  their  Swedish,  German,  and  Rus- 


FINNS.  49 

sian  neighbors.  But  in  the  small  towns  and  vil- 
lages and  in  the  country  they  retain  many  old 
and  curious  customs.  There  they  live  in  old- 
fashioned  houses  or  even  older-fashioned  tents. 
The  houses,  built  of  logs,  had  low,  broad,  two- 
pitched  roofs  and  consisted  of  a  single  room ; 
there  was  one  door  and  some  small  windows. 
Only  recently  have  they  used  glass  in  the  win- 
dows. The  furniture  is  simple.  Clothing  and 
other  articles  are  hung  on  pegs  against  the  wall 
or  over  poles  which  are  supported  by  hooks 
from  the  roof.  Big,  ring-shaped  loaves  of  rye 
bread  are  hung  up  on  these  poles  also.  Out- 
side the  house  are  several  small  buildings  used 
"as  store-rooms  for  treasures  and  the  sweat-bath 
house. 

The  old  tents  are  now  rarely  seen.  They  were 
circular,  and  their  framework  was  made  by  setting 
poles  in  the  ground  so  that  their  upper  ends  met ; 
branches  were  worked  in  to  fill  the  spaces  be- 
tween these  and  form  walls,  and  moss  and  turf 
were  tightly  packed  in  to  fill  all  openings.  A 
doorway  was  left  and  a  smoke  hole. 

The  sweat-bath  house  is  found  everywhere.  It 
is  large  enough  to  accommodate  a  good  many 
bathers  at  once.  Two  sets  of  wide  benches  run 
around  the  inside  of  the  house,  one  higher  than 


5O  STRANGE   PEOPLES. 

the  other :  these  are  for  the  bathers  to  sit  or  lie 
upon.  They  reach  the  higher  benches  or  plat- 
forms by  means  of  a  short  ladder.  In  one  corner 
of  this  sweat-house  is  a  dome-shaped  oven  or  fire- 
place built  of  stones.  This  is  heated  very  hot, 
and  then  dippers  of  water  are  thrown  upon  the 
hot  stones,  until  the  steam  fills  the  whole  build- 
ing. The  bathers  bask  in  the  vapor,  rub  and 
strike  themselves  with  bunches  of  birch  twigs, 
and  then  dash  cold  water  over  themselves.  They 
delight  in  these  vapor  baths,  and  every  one — men, 
women,  and  children  —  takes  them.  We  would 
not  enjoy  it  much,  for  there  is  much  smoke  mixed 
with  the  steam.  Similar  vapor  baths  are  used  in 
Russia,  and  recently  "  Russian  baths  "  have  come 
much  into  use  among  ourselves. 

Like  many  other  northern  peoples  the  Finns 
make  many  articles  from  birch  bark.  Boxes, 
vessels,  carrying  sacks,  and  even  shoes  are  made 
from  it.  The  climate  of  Finland  is  rather  bad; 
winters  are  long  and  severe.  The  people  raise 
some  plants,  but  their  agriculture  is  simple  and 
old-fashioned.  They  burn  over  the  space  to  be 
planted,  work  the  ashes  and  soil  with  crude  tools, 
and  plant  the  seed.  Their  crops  sometimes  fail 
and  terrible  famines  result.  At  such  times  they 
have  made  bread  from  bark  and  roots  crushed 


FINNS.  5 1 

between   rude   grinding   stones.     Such    bread  is 
called  famine  bread. 

The  Finns  love  song  and  poetry.  It  is  said 
that  every  village  has  one  poet,  or  more,  and  that 
he  prepares  a  new  song  whenever  aught  of  im- 
portance occurs.  Besides  these  new  songs  they 


FINNS   SINGING    (VERNEAU). 

have  many  ancient  songs,  of  which  they  never 
tire.  When  they  sing  the  songs  of  the  olden 
time,  two  men  seat  themselves  face  to  face  upon 
a  bench,  join  hands,  and  rock  backward  and  for- 
ward in  time  to  the  song.  First  one  sings  a  line 
or  passage,  and  then  the  other  repeats  the  same, 


52  STRANGE   PEOPLES. 

and  so  they  continue,  rocking  back  and  forth  and 
singing  the  whole  night  through.  Sometimes  a 
third  man  plays  upon  the  kantele,  while  the 
others  sing.  This  kantele  is  somewhat  like  a 
zither;  it  has  a  flat  sounding-body  upon  which 
are  strung  from  three  to  eight  strings  of  different 
lengths.  It  is  usually  picked  with  the  fingers 
like  a  guitar.  It  is  said  that  the  first  kantele  was 
made  of  fish-bones,  though  it  is  not  easy  to  see 
how  that  could  be. 

Until  less  than  a  hundred  years  ago,  although 
these  old  songs  were  much  loved,  no  one  had 
written  them  down.  They  were  learned  by  heart 
from  father  to  son,  and  thus  kept  alive  through 
the  centuries.  A  man  named  Lonnrot  became 
interested  in  them  and  copied  many  of  them 
from  the  mouths  of  the  singers.  In  1825  he 
printed  a  book  of  them,  and  later  he  gathered 
and  published  still  more.  To  this  book  of  songs 
he  gave  the  name  of  the  Kalevala.  It  is  one  of 
the  great  poems  of  the  world,  and  it  tells  of  the 
life  and  doings  and  beliefs  of  the  Finns  of  the 
old,  old  time.  The  style  of  the  Kalevala  is  lively 
and  quite  unlike  most  English  poetry.  In  Hia- 
watha, Longfellow  copies  this  style  ;  so  when  you 
read  Hiawatha  again,  remember  that  it  is  like  the 
old  Finnish  songs. 


LAPPS.  53 

The  Finns  are  very  fond  of  the  Kalevala  and 
their  other  ancient  songs.  They  are  jealous,  too, 
of  their  old  customs,  and  dislike  to  see  them  pass 
away.  They  have  some  societies  the  purpose  of 
which  is  to  keep  alive  a  knowledge  of  the  past 
of  Finland.  But  though  the  Finns  love  Finland 
and  its  old  life,  they  are  not  to-day  an  indepen- 
dent nation.  They  were  invaded  long  ago  by 
Sweden,  and  later  on  by  Russia.  For  a  time 
Finland  was  a  half-independent  kingdom  under 
Russian  control,  but  lately  its  power  has  been 
again  reduced,  and  it  is  part  of  Russia  itself. 

What  we  have  said  of  the  Finns  is  true  of  the 
country  people.  In  the  cities  things  are  much 
the  same  as  in  other  European  cities.  In  Hel- 
singfors  we  should  find  one  of  the  great  uni- 
versities of  Europe,  and  many  educated  and 
distinguished  men  Finns  by  birth  and  language. 

X. 

LAPPS. 

IN  the  northmost  part  of  the  Scandinavian 
Peninsula  and  Finland  live  the  Lapps.  There 
are  probably  not  more  than  ten  or  twelve  thou- 
sand, all  told.  They  have  had  much  contact 
with  the  Finns,  and  speak  a  language  related  to 


54 


STRANGE   PEOPLES. 


Finnish.  In  many  customs  they  resemble  them. 
This  is  not  strange,  as  the  land  they  live  in  is 
much  the  same. 

But  while  all  Finns  are  tall,  the  Lapps  are 
short.  Most  of  the  men  fall  below  five  feet. 
Little  and  thin,  they  are  yet  strong  and  quick 
in  their  movements.  Their  skin  is  dark,  their 


A   GROUP  OF   LAPPS    (VERNEAU). 

hair  black  and  straight.  Their  heads  are  big 
and  broad,  and  they  have  good  foreheads  and 
projecting  cheek  bones.  Their  eyes  often  seem 
to  slant  downward  at  their  outer  corners.  While 
they  are  really  dark  skinned,  they  are  not  nearly 
so  much  so  as  they  appear,  for  they  are  usually 
filthy.  When  their  faces  are  washed,  some  of  the 


LAPPS.  55 

women  have  quite  fair  skin  and  rosy  cheeks. 
Life  is  hard  among  the  Lapps,  but  they  often 
live  to  be  old  —  sometimes  even  to  one  hundred 
years  or  more. 

Those  Lapps  who  live  farthest  away  from  the 
Finns,  Russians,  and  Swedes  still  wear  the  old 
style  of  dress.  In  winter  their  garments  are 
made  of  reindeer  hide  :  the  hair,  which  is  left  on, 
is  worn  next  the  body.  Both  men  and  women 
wear  big  mittens  of  skin.  They  have  caps  on 
their  heads,  and  fishermen  and  herders  may  be 
distinguished  by  the  style  of  these.  Fishermen's 
caps  are  pointed,  while  those  of  herders  are  square. 
In  going  out  over  the  snow  in  winter,  Lapps  have 
long,  narrow  runners  of  wood  fastened  to  their 
feet,  and  carry  a  pole  in  their  hand.  These  run- 
ners are  five  feet  or  more  in  length,  and  only  a 
few  inches  wide,  and  on  them  —  aided  by  their 
poles —  the  Lapps  glide  along  finely  over  the  hard 
snow. 

Some  Lapps  are  constantly  wandering.  Others 
settle  down  in  quite  permanent  homes.  The  wan- 
derers build  tents  similar  in  shape  to  those  of  our 
Sioux  Indians  and  of  the  Finns.  A  lot  of  poles 
are  set  up  in  a  circle  with  their  upper  ends  meet- 
ing. This  framework  is  covered  with  a  cloth  or 
with  turfs.  The  settled  Lapps  live  in  houses,  the 


56  STRANGE   PEOPLES. 

framework  of  which  consists  of  posts  set  upright 
and  poles  lashed  across.  Small  storehouses  for 
food  are  built  near  by,  and  these  are  set  up  on 
four  posts  to  keep  the  contents  out  of  reach  of 
dogs  and  other  animals. 

When  they  greet  each  other,  the  Lapps  rub 
noses  together.  This  mode  of  kissing  is  found 
also  among  other  northern  peoples,  like  the 
Samoyeds  in  Asia  and  the  Eskimos  in  America. 
Mothers  cradle  their  babies  in  a  sort  of  trough 
hollowed  out  of  a  piece  of  wood.  This  they  carry 
on  their  backs  when  they  journey,  and  hang  on  a 
tree  or  set  into  a  snowbank  when  they  work. 

Of  course  every  one  thinks  of  reindeer  when 
Laplanders  are  mentioned.  And  it  is  not  strange, 
because  reindeer  are  useful  indeed  to  these  little 
people.  They  furnish  three  useful  things,  —  milk, 
meat,  and  skins.  The  reindeer  are  kept  in  herds 
and  form  almost  the  only  wealth  of  their  owners. 
Some  herds  number  perhaps  a  thousand  reindeer. 
These  herds  must  be  constantly  watched.  Men, 
women,  and  children  all  help  in  the  work,  and  the 
many  dogs  kept  by  the  Lapps  are  chiefly  helpful 
in  guarding  the  herds.  The  women  do  the  milk- 
ing, and  each  of  the  reindeer  cows  is  milked  twice 
a  day.  They  give  little  milk,  hardly  more  than  a 
cupful  at  a  milking,  but  it  is  rich  and  thick  and 


LAPLANDER   ON   SNOW-RUNNERS    (VERNEAU). 


58  STRANGE   PEOPLES. 

can  be  thinned  with  a  good  deal  of  water.  Some 
of  the  milk  is  drunk  fresh,  and  from  the  rest  the 
women  make  a  kind  of  cheese.  When  they  wish 
to  milk  a  reindeer,  they  approach  the  animal  care- 
fully, throw  a  lasso  over  its  head  and  wind  this 
around  the  snout  so  as  to  hold  the  animal  quiet. 
The  reindeer  are  also  much  used  to  carry  burdens 
and  to  drag  sledges. 

Besides  the  flesh  and  milk  of  the  reindeer  the 
Laplanders  eat  its  blood,  which  is  boiled  down 
into  a  sort  of  pudding.  The  meat  which  is  not 
eaten  fresh  is  dried  and  stored  away.  Fish  are 
dried  and  smoked.  Birds  and  their  eggs  are  much 
eaten.  Bread,  much  like  the  "  famine  bread  "  of 
the  Finns,  is  made  from  roots  and  barks.  Soup 
is  made  of  pine  bark  mixed  with  fat  and  flour  or 
meal. 

The  Laplanders  who  live  in  settled  houses  de- 
pend upon  hunting  during  the  fall  and  fishing 
during  the  summer.  They  hunt  reindeer,  squir- 
rels, and  birds.  Wild  reindeer  they  take  chiefly 
by  pitfalls :  they  dig  a  hole,  or  trench,  in  the  path 
over  which  the  reindeer  is  likely  to  pass,  and  care- 
fully cover  it  with  branches,  earth,  and  grass. 
When  the  animals  have  fallen  in,  they  are  easily 
killed.  Lapps  are  fond  of  the  eggs  of  water  birds, 
and  to  secure  them  they  build  nests  for  the  birds 


LAPPS.  59 

in  trees  near  the  water,  and  then  rob  them  after 
the  eggs  have  been  laid. 

The  Laplanders  are  great  believers  in  spirits. 
To  summon  these  they  use  drums  or  tambourines, 
consisting  of  a  ring  of  wood  over  which  a  mem- 
brane is  tightly  stretched.  This  has  jingling  ob- 
jects fastened  to  it  which  make  a  noise  when  the 
instrument  is  beaten  or  rattled.  Upon  the  mem- 
brane are  rudely  painted,  curious  figures,  usually 
in  red.  Thus  the  sun,  animals,  and  human  beings 
are  pictured,  and  are  believed  to  help  the  drum- 
mer. The  Lapps  greatly  fear  their  god  of  storms. 
He  is  believed  to  drive  the  storms  forth  from  his 
cave  with  a  club  and  to  bring  them  back  with  a 
shovel.  They  fear  him  most  at  the  season  when 
the  young  reindeer  are  born,  and  then  pray  to 
him  not  to  let  loose  the  storms,  lest  the  little  crea- 
tures perish.  Through  their  sorcerers  they  secure 
from  this  god,  storm  strings  with  three  knots  tied 
in  them.  Each  of  these  knots  represents  a  storm. 
If  one  knot  is  untied,  a  little  storm  is  let  loose ;  if 
two  are  untied,  a  greater  one;  if  three,  there  is  a 
fearful  tempest.  These  strings  are  used  against 
enemies  or  those  who  have  tried  to  do  them  harm. 
The  neighbors  of  the  little  Lapps  think  these  can 
do  them  much  harm  with  their  wind  strings  and 
other  magic,  and  they  dread  and  hate  them. 


6O  STRANGE   PEOPLES. 

XI. 

TURKS. 

WITH  the  Turks  we  pass  from  the  peoples 
of  Europe  to  those  of  Asia,  for  the  European 
Osmanli  Turks  are  only  the  most  settled  branch 
of  a  large  group  of  peoples,  most  of  whom  lead 
wandering  lives  and  live  in  Central  and  North- 
ern Asia.  All  speak  almost  the  same  language. 
Formerly  there  was  a  great  Turkish  Empire, 
which  stretched  from  the  borders  of  China  to  the 
Caspian  Sea.  The  present  peoples  of  the  Turkic 
group  live  within  this  area  and  in  European 
Turkey.  Among  the  most  important  of  these 
peoples  are  the  Yakuts,  Turkomans,  Uzbegs, 
Nogais,  Cossacks,  and  Osmanli, — the  latter  being 
the  Turks  of  European  Turkey. 

We  shall  speak  only  of  the  Yakuts,  Turkomans, 
and  Osmanli.  The  Yakuts  occupy  an  area  along 
both  banks  of  the  Lena  River  and  extending  west 
from  it.  They  are  wanderers  and  raise  herds 
of  cattle  and  horses.  They  live  chiefly  on  the 
produce  of  their  herds,  eating  horse  flesh  espe- 
cially, and  making  much  cheese.  Like  many  of 
their  neighbors  they  are  fond  of  koumyss,  a  drink 
prepared  by  fermenting  mare's  milk.  Those  liv- 
ing farthest  north,  near  the  delta  of  the  Lena 


TURKS.  6 1 

River,  also  hunt  small  animals  for  food.  These 
wandering  herders,  living  in  tents,  are  not  quarrel- 
some ;  they  respect  age,  and  the  old  men  control 
affairs  and  determine  the  time  for  moving  camp. 
Women  are  well  treated  by  their  husbands,  but 
one  man  may  have  several  wives.  In  such  cases, 
the  wives  live  each  in  a  separate  tent,  and  these 
tents  are  placed  about  the  tent  of  the  husband. 
Men  pay  the  father  of  their  wives,  for  these,  with 
cattle  and  horses.  When  a  man  among  the 
Yakuts  dies,  they  dress  him  in  his  best  clothing 
and  place  in  the  grave  with  him  his  knife,  a  flint 
and  steel,  some  tinder,  and  a  little  food.  The 
burial  is  always  under  a  tree,  and  two  graves  are 
dug.  In  one  the  man  is  buried  with  his  head 
turned  toward  the  west.  The  man's  favorite 
horse  is  brought  in  his  finest  harness  and  loaded 
with  presents:  a  fat  mare  is  also  brought.  These 
are  both  killed  and  buried  in  the  second  grave 
that  they  may  accompany  their  master. 

The  Turkomans,  who  live  in  Southern  Turkes- 
tan and  adjoining  regions,  are  probably  more  like 
the  ancient  Turks  in  appearance,  than  any  of  the 
other  Turkic  tribes  of  the  present.  They  are 
somewhat  tall,  with  a  broad,  rounded  head,  broad 
face,  prominent  cheek  bones,  little  slant  eyes,  a 
low  nose,  rather  thick  lips,  and  projecting  ears. 


62 


STRANGE   PEOPLES. 


Their  skin  is  yellowish,  their  hair  is  coarse  and 
black,  and  they  have  little  beard.  They  delight 
in  bright  clothing,  and  the  women  wear  much 
jewelry.  It  is  said  that  they  wear  so  many  jin- 


CARAVAN    PREPARING  TO   START:      ASIATIC  TURKS    (VERNEAU). 


gling  ornaments,  that  a  party  of  passing  women 
make  a  noise  almost  like  the  tinkling  of  bells. 
The  Turkomans  live  in  large,  round,  wall  tents: 
the  light  framework  of  poles  is  covered  with  great 
pieces  of  felt.  This  felt  is  beaten  by  the  women 


TURKS.  63 

from  sheep's  wool  and  camel's  hair.  They  are 
comfortable  within.  The  floor  is  often  covered 
with  fine  rugs  or  skins,  and  handsome  woven 
stuffs  are  hung  upon  the  wall  or  thrown  over  the 
sitting  places.  These  fine  articles  are  partly 
woven  by  the  women  and  partly  stolen  from  pass- 
ing caravans — for  the  Turkomans  are  dreadful 
pillagers.  Until  very  lately  they  were  also  slave- 
hunters  and  stole  many  Persian  women  to  sell  as 
slaves.  The  Russian  government  has  almost  put 
an  end  to  this  trade.  The  Turkomans  raise 
horses,  sheep,  and  camels.  They  eat  the  flesh  of 
these  animals  and  drink  their  fresh  milk.  Unlike 
the  Yakuts,  they  do  not  care  for  koumyss.  When 
an  important  man  among  the  Turkomans  dies, 
they  raise  a  heap  of  stones  over  his  grave.  If  he 
was  a  very  pious  man,  they  pay  great  respect  to 
his  grave  and  consider  it  a  holy  spot.  A  man 
who  is  ill  or  in  trouble  may  visit  this  grave  to 
pray  there ;  if  he  has  an  animal  that  suffers  from 
some  disease,  he  leads  it  around  the  grave  to  cure 
it.  Such  ideas  about  a  pious  man's  grave  prevail 
in  all  Mohammedan  countries.  All  the  peoples 
of  the  Turkic  group  are  Mussulmans,  though 
you  would  never  think  it  from  the  way  in  which 
Yakut  and  Turkoman  women  go  about  unveiled. 
The  Osmanli  are  the  true  Turks  of  Europe. 


64  STRANGE   PEOPLES. 

Probably  you  would  expect  to  see  only  Turks  in 
Turkey.  That  would  be  a  great  error,  for  really 
only  about  one-tenth  the  population  of  Turkey  is 
made  up  of  Turks.  There  are  many  Armenians 
and  Bulgarians,  besides  Greeks  and  others.  The 
Osmanli  Turks  do  not  look  like  Mongolians,  but 
their  language  and  real  blood  relationship  are 
with  the  yellow  Asians,  rather  than  with  the 
white  Europeans.  It  is  not  strange,  however, 
that  they  present  so  mixed  a  type ;  Turks  have 
long  married  with  white  slaves,  and  there  is 
much  Caucasian  blood  —  both  European  and 
Asian  —  in  their  veins. 

Constantinople  is  one  of  the  most  beautiful 
cities  of  the  globe,  and  is  probably  the  most 
important  Mohammedan  city.  The  mosques,  or 
places  of  worship,  are  everywhere  and  recognizable 
by  their  pretty  minarets.  Friday  and  not  Sunday 
is  the  day  of  service.  Daily  prayers  are  required, 
and  the  hours  for  prayer  are  called  by  the  muezzim. 
When  the  call  is  heard,  no  matter  what  he  may 
be  doing,  a  good  Mohammedan  stops  his  occupa- 
tion, spreads  his  prayer  cloth,  faces  the  sacred 
city  of  Mecca,  and  goes  through  his  prayers. 

The  Turk  is  not  industrious  and  lacks  energy ; 
he  enjoys  ease  and  amusement.  Perhaps  a  part 
of  this  is  due  to  his  being  a  fatalist ;  he  believes 


THE   PEOPLES  OF  ASIA.  6$ 

that  what  will  happen,  must  happen  ;  that  he  can- 
not in  any  way  change  the  course  of  events.  So 
why  should  he  hurry  and  worry  ?  He  is  fond  of 
trading,  but  even  there  is  not  in  haste.  In  the 
bazaars  the  seller  and  buyer  haggle  a  long  time 
over  the  prices.  The  one  never  asks  the  price  he 
expects  to  get,  but  one  much  larger;  the  other 
never  expects  to  pay  the  price  first  asked,  but  one 
much  lower.  Mohammedans  who  can  afford  to 
keep  them  may  marry  four  wives ;  they  often  own 
many  female  slaves  beside.  These  wives  and  slaves 
live  in  a  special  part  of  the  house  called  the  harem, 
where  no  visitors  except  women  enter.  When 
Turkish  women  go  upon  the  street  they  are  closely 
veiled,  and  none  of  their  face  except  the  eyes  can 
be  seen.  Mohammedanism  permits  polygamy,  but 
it  forbids  wine-drinking.  While  not  all  Turks 
obey  this  command,  they  are  usually  temperate, 
and  drunkenness  is  rare. 

XII. 

THE   PEOPLES   OF  ASIA. 

THERE  has  been  much  question  as  to  where  man 
first  lived.  Some  believe  that  the  first  men  were 
white  and  lived  in  Europe  and  North  Africa ; 
others  think  the  negroes  of  Africa  are  the  oldest 


66  STRANGE   PEOPLES. 

men ;  a  few  have  argued  that  the  American 
Indian  was  the  original  race  ;  most,  however,  have 
thought  that  Asia  was  man's  first  home.  Whether 
this  is  so  or  not,  Asia  to-day  contains  a  swarming 
population  composed  of  many  peoples,  differing 
much  in  appearance,  dress,  life,  and  customs. 

The  Asian  peoples  belong  chiefly  to  the  Mon- 
golic  or  yellow  race.  It  is  a  well-marked  type. 
Medium  stature,  broad  and  round  head,  flat  face, 
with  nose  rather  low,  broad  and  high  cheek 
bones,  hair  coarse  and  straight  and  jet  black, 
skin  yellowish,  dark  eyes  apparently  set  slantwise 
in  the  face,  are  its  characters.  The  yellow  race 
includes  the  Chinese,  Japanese,  Coreans,  the 
peoples  of  Indo-China,  and  most  of  the  wander- 
ing tribes  of  Siberia.  There  are  probably  more 
of  this  race  than  of  any  other  on  the  globe ;  next 
to  them  in  numbers  is  the  white  race ;  then  the 
negroes;  then  the  island  peoples;  last  and  least, 
the  American  Indians. 

Asia  may  justly  be  called  the  continent  of 
•yellow  peoples.  But  it  would  be  a  mistake  to 
think  that  no  other  peoples  but  Mongolic  peoples 
live  there.  In  almost  every  part  of  the  great 
continent  are  peoples  of  white  or  Caucasic  types. 
Thus,  in  the  far  northeast  of  Asia  we  have  the 
curious  Ghilyaks ;  in  Japan,  the  Ainu ;  in  China, 


THE   PEOPLES   OF  ASIA.  67 

various  mountain  tribes;  in  Southeastern  Asia, 
similar  peoples ;  in  India,  the  Todas.  All  these 
tribes  are  white,  bearded,  with  hairy  bodies, 
rather  long  heads,  and  straight  eyes.  These 
tribes  are  small  in  numbers,  rather  quiet  and 
timid,  with  little  energy,  and  quite  unlike  Euro- 
pean whites.  They  usually  live  in  mountainous, 
out-of-the-way  places,  and  it  almost  seems  as  if 
they  are  the  scattered  fragments  of  an  ancient, 
white  population,  who  occupied  much  of  Asia 
before  the  yellow  race  was  important,  and  who  have 
been  crowded  back  and  almost  destroyed  by  it. 

In  India,  Persia,  and  other  parts,  of  Western 
Asia,  are  many  white  peoples  who  are  like  true 
European  whites  in  their  Aryan  languages  and 
in  their  forms  and  features.  In  Western  Asia 
there  are,  and  long  have  been,  many  dark  white 
populations  who  are  vigorous  and  active,  with 
features  much  more  European  than  Mongolian. 
These  dark  whites  speak  languages  related  to 
each  other,  but  not  Aryan.  To  these  peoples, 
including  the  old  Hebrews,  and  the  modern  Arabs, 
and  many  other  ancient  and  modern  peoples,  the 
name  Semites  is  applied.  So  you  see  that  in 
Asia  there  are  not  only  the  yellow,  Mongolian 
peoples,  but  three  different  kinds  of  whites,  —  the 
ancient  feeble  race,  the  Aryans,  and  the  Semites. 


68  STRANGE   PEOPLES. 

Nowhere  do  we  find  more  interesting  ruins 
telling  of  past  grandeur  than  in  Asia.  We  think 
of  Rome  as  old ;  of  Greece  as  older ;  but  in 
Mesopotamia  are  ruins  far  older  than  those  of 
Greece  and  Rome.  There  are  the  ruins  of  Nine- 
veh and  Babylon,  so  often  mentioned  in  the 
Bible.  Both  are  old,  but  lately  explorers  have 
found  yet  older  ruins  dating  back  six  or  seven 
thousand  years.  And  these  are  not  ruins  of 
small  and  unimportant  places,  but  of  grand  cities, 
whose  people  were  already  civilized,  with  fixed 
laws,  curious  religions,  and  many  arts  and  indus- 
tries. Nowhere  in  the  world  have  ruins  of  older 
cities  been  found,  and  it  is  believed  that  the 
people  who  built  them  were  yellow  Mongolians. 

In  Asia  most  of  the  great  religions  were  born. 
The  oldest  religious  systems  of  which  we  know 
were  those  of  Mesopotamia.  In  India  Buddhism 
began.  Buddha  was  a  teacher  who  felt  that  the 
old  religion  of  India,  Brahmanism,  was  wrong. 
So  he  taught  a  new  religion.  There  are  more 
believers  in  Buddhism  to-day  than  in  any  other 
religion.  It  is  the  chief  religion  of  China,  Japan, 
Tibet,  Southeastern  Asia,  and  Ceylon ;  but  in 
India  itself,  where  Buddha  lived  and  taught,  the 
people  are  not  Buddhists.  In  China  there  arose 
a  great  teacher,  Confucius.  He  taught  no  reli- 


CHINESE.  69 

gion,  but  to-day  there  are  Confucian  temples  all 
through  China.  Judaism,  the  worship  of  Jehovah 
by  the  Jews,  began  in  Asia.  There,  too,  in  Judaea 
also,  Christianity  was  born.  Christ  dwelt  and 
taught  there,  and  there  the  first  Christian  churches 
were  founded.  But  just  as  Buddha's  land  is  not 
Buddhist,  so  Palestine  to-day  is  not  Christian. 
It  is  a  part  of  the  Mohammedan  world.  Moham- 
medanism, too,  is  Asiatic,  beginning  in  Arabia 
almost  thirteen  hundred  years  ago.  Perhaps  the 
original  home  of  man,  Asia  has  certainly  been 
the  first  seat  of  civilization,  and  the  cradle  of 
religions. 

XIII. 

CHINESE. 

PERHAPS  four  hundred  and  twenty  million  peo- 
ple dwell  in  the  Chinese  Empire  and  are  called 
Chinese.  They  are  not,  however,  all  true  Chinese. 
When  the  Chinese  (or  their  ancestors)  moved 
eastward  into  what  is  now  China,  four  thousand 
or  more  years  ago,  they  found  many  different 
tribes  living  there.  Some  of  these  were  driven 
forth  to  seek  new  homes;  many  remained  and 
have  mixed  and  mingled  with  the  Chinese. 

So  many  Chinese  now  live  in  our  country  that 
you  all  know  how  they  look  and  dress.  The 


70  STRANGE   PEOPLES. 

Chinese  in  America  are  mostly  from  the  poorest 
and  meanest  class,  and  most  of  them  come. from 
Canton.  Most  of  those  here  are  laundrymen,  but 
in  some  of  our  larger  cities  there  are  merchants 
and  restaurant  keepers,  and  in  California  hun- 
dreds of  them  are  gardeners.  They  quickly  learn 
our  ways  of  doing,  and  many  are  employed  in 
cigar-making,  shirt-making,  and  railroad-building. 
They  work  hard  and  save  their  money,  as  they 
want  sometime  to  go  home  to  their  own  country. 
Chinamen  who  die  here  are  buried  only  for  a 
little  time :  later  the  bones  are  gathered  and  sent 
home  to  be  buried  in  China. 

The  Chinese  who  come  here  are  short  or  of 
medium  stature.  In  the  interior  and  north  of 
China  they  are  taller.  They  have  yellow  skin, 
black  straight  hair,  and  black  eyes.  Their  eyes 
appear  to  slant  or  be  set  crookedly,  the  inner 
corners  being  lower  than  the  outer;  they  are 
really  almost  as  straight  as  our  own,  and  the 
appearance  is  due  to  a  fold  of  skin  at  the  inner 
corner.  The  long  queue  that  hangs  down  the 
Chinaman's  back  is  not  composed  entirely  of 
hair ;  it  is  pieced  out  below  with  cord  or  strings 
braided  in.  This  style  of  wearing  the  hair  is 
not  truly  Chinese.  Formerly  the  Chinese  wore 
their  hair  in  a  knot  on  top  of  the  head,  but  at 


CHINESE. 


the  time  of  the  Manchu  Conquest,  two  hundred 
and  fifty  or  so  years  ago,  they  were  compelled  to 
wear  the  hair  in  the  Manchu  fashion.  For  a 
Chinaman  to  cut  off  his  queue  would  be  almost 
the  same  as  de- 
claring himself 
unloyal  to  his 
Manchu  rulers. 

Chinamen  usu- 
ally have  three 
names.  The  fam- 
ily name,  which 
we  place  last, 
they  place  first. 
Thus  Li  Hung 
Chang,  the  great 
Chinese  viceroy, 
belongs  to  the 
Li  family.  Few 
of  the  Chinese 
laundrymen  in 
this  country  have 
their  true  names 
on  their  signs.  The  Li  family  is  one  of  the 
largest  in  China,  but  it  is  also  generally  poor  and 
despised.  Most  of  our  Chinese  laundrymen  are 
List  and  are  related  to  Li  Hung  Chang. 


CHINESE   MANDARIN    (RATZEL). 


72  STRANGE   PEOPLES. 

In  writing,  the  Chinese  use  a  brush,  which 
they  dip  into  ink.  A  single  character  repre- 
sents a  word,  though  many  Chinese  words  are 
written  with  compound  characters,  one  part  of 
which  gives  the  sound,  and  the  other  part  pic- 
tures the  meaning.  In  Chinese  many  sounds 
have  several  different  meanings.  If  the  character 
with  which  the  sound  is  written  stood  alone,  it 
would  not  be  clear  which  meaning  was  intended. 
Chinese  books  are  printed  on  thin  paper,  which 
is  folded  back  and  forth  like  a  screen  or  fan  and 
then  stitched  at  the  back ;  this  makes  the  pages 
double.  The  Chinese  book  begins  at  what  we 
would  consider  the  back  and  goes  through  to 
what  we  would  call  the  front.  The  print  goes 
from  the  top  of  the  page  down,  in  vertical 
columns,  and  the  first  column  is  the  one  to  the 
right  hand. 

To  be  able  to  write  well  is  considered  of  the 
greatest  importance  in  China.  The  Chinese 
respect  learning  also,  and  no  man  can  hold  office 
in  China  unless  he  is  educated  and  has  passed 
his  examinations.  From  the  time  when  a  boy 
begins  study  he  must  keep  it  up  for  many  years, 
if  he  hopes  for  a  government  position.  Often  he 
is  a  middle-aged  or  old  man  before  he  succeeds 
in  passing  all  the  necessary  examinations.  To 


CHINESE.  73 

be  able  to  write  beautifully,  to  be  able  to  compose 
a  poem  upon  any  given  subject,  and  to  know  the 
writings  of  Confucius  and  the  other  old  philoso- 
phers are  the  things  the  Chinaman  must  learn. 
The  great  examinations  at  the  Capital  are 
attended  by  thousands  from  every  part  of  the 


CHINESE  BOY   CHOOSING  TOYS    (DOOLITTLE). 


Empire.  The  man  who  stands  first  is  sure  to 
have  an  important  governorship  given  to  him  at 
once. 

There  are  many  curious  customs  regarding 
Chinese  children.  One  takes  place  when  a 
little  boy  is  one  year  old.  A  great  bamboo  sieve, 


74  STRANGE   PEOPLES. 

such  as  farmers  use,  is  placed  upon  the  table. 
Upon  it  are  spread  many  articles  —  money-scales, 
shears,  a  measure,  a  mirror,  a  pencil,  ink,  paper, 
inkstone,  books,  the  counting-board,  objects  of 
gold  or  silver,  fruits,  etc.  The  baby,  all 
dressed  in  his  best  clothes,  is  then  set  in  the 
midst  of  the  objects,  on  the  sieve.  His  parents 
and  friends  watch  anxiously  to  see  which  of  the 
articles  he  will  grasp.  They  believe  it  will  show 
what  he  will  do  when  he  is  a  man.  If  he  takes 
the  money-scales  or  the  gold  or  silver,  he  will 
become  a  rich  merchant ;  if  he  takes  the  book  or 
pencil,  he  will  be  a  great  scholar,  and  so  on. 

Chinese  money  consists  chiefly  of  round  brass 
coins  with  a  square  hole  in  the  middle.  It  takes 
from  eight  to  sixteen  of  them  to  make  one  cent 
of  ours.  They  are  called  "  cash  "  and  are  often 
strung  on  strings  for  convenient  carrying.  Many 
hundreds  of  years  ago  the  ancient  Chinese  used 
clothing  and  tools  for  money.  When  they  began 
to  make  metal  coins  they  made  these  in  the 
shape  of  shirts,  knives,  and  spades,  and  called 
them  shirt  money,  knife  money,  and  spade 
money. 

In  eating  the  Chinese  do  not  use  knives  and 
forks,  but  a  pair  of  slender  sticks  called  "chop- 
sticks." These  are  both  taken  in  one  hand,  and 


CHINESE.  75 

are  used  to  pick  up  bits  of  meat  or  vegetables 
from  the  soup  or  to  lift  boiled  rice  or  dumplings 
to  the  mouth.  For  eating  soup  they  use  little 
flat-bottomed  spoons  of  chinaware,  which  will  not 
fall  over  when  set  down  on  the  table.  In  mak- 
ing tea  the  cup  or  bowl  for  each  person  stands 
on  the  table  with  tea  leaves  in  it;  it  sets  into  a 
little  ring-shaped  saucer  and  has  a  little  cover 
over  it  like  a  saucer  turned  bottom  upward. 
The  servant  lifts  the  cover  and  pours  boiling 
water  upon  the  leaves  and  then  replaces  the 
cover  to  let  the  tea  steep.  The  cover  may  be 
used  to  stir  the  tea  for  cooling  it,  and  when  held 
in  proper  position  prevents  the  tea  leaves  from 
getting  into  the  mouth  of  the  person  who  is 
drinking. 

But  how  many  things  are  left  that  we  cannot 
speak  of!  The  busy  work  in  the  fields,  the  prep- 
aration of  tea,  the  rearing  of  silkworms  and  mak- 
ing of  silk,  the  trades,  the  government,  the  love 
and  respect  for  parents,  the  respect  for  the  graves 
of  ancestors,  the  religious  ideas,  the  life  and  teach- 
ings of  Confucius  —  these  things  would  need 
many  books  like  this. 


76  STRANGE   PEOPLES. 

XIV. 

COREANS- 

COREA  is  often  called  the  Hermit  Nation, 
because  it  has  wanted  to  keep  foreigners  away. 
In  this  respect  it  is  what  China,  Japan,  and 
Tibet  have  sometimes  been ;  all  of  them  have 
followed  at  times  policies  of  exclusion.  Still, 
Corea  has  had  a  good  deal  of  contact  with  other 
nations;  she  has  learned  many  things  from  China 
and  has  passed  on  much  that  she  learned  to 
Japan.  Sometimes,  too,  Corea  has  been  subject 
to  China,  sometimes  to  Japan. 

The  dress  of  Corea,  while  somewhat  like  that 
of  China,  and  that  of  Japan,  is  still  quite  pecul- 
iar. The  common  people  are  all  dressed  in 
bluish  white  stuffs.  Rich  people  dress  in  silks 
of  the  most  gorgeous  colors  —  blue,  crimson, 
scarlet,  orange.  The  chief  garment  worn  by  men 
is  a  long,  loose  gown  that  hangs  from  the  neck 
quite  to  the  ground.  This  is  bound  around, 
high  above  the  waist,  with  a  stiff,  broad  belt. 
No  buttons  are  used  in  the  fastening  of  gar- 
ments, but  strips  of  colored  ribbons.  The  socks 
and  shoes  of  the  Coreans  are  like  those  of  the 
Chinese,  except  that  the  shoe  soles  are  thick-set 
with  nail-heads.  Nowadays  these  hob-nailed 


COREANS.  77 

shoes  are  worn  at  all  times,  but  formerly  they 
were  probably  used  only  in  winter  to  prevent 
slipping  on  ice  and  snow.  About  this  the  Core- 
ans  tell  a  story:  long  ago  there  was  war  between 
China  and  Corea,  and  the  Chinese  sent  an  army 
of  eight  hundred  thousand  soldiers;  Corea's  army 
numbered  but  five  thousand.  It  was  in  the 
midst  of  winter.  The  two  armies  met  at  a  river, 
which  was  frozen  solid,  and  the  battle  took  place 
upon  the  ice.  The  Chinese  wore  their  smooth- 
soled  shoes,  while  the  Coreans  wore  hob-nailed 
ones.  When  they  fought  on  the  ice  the  Chinese 
slipped  helplessly,  while  the  Coreans  were  able  to 
fight  well.  The  result  was  a  great  victory -for 
the  Coreans  who,  since  then,  have  worn  their 
hob-nailed  shoes  constantly  in  memory  of  their 
success. 

But  the  most  curious  part  of  Corean  dress  is 
the  hat.  There  are  many  different  kinds.  There 
are  hats  for  young  and  hats  for  old,  hats  for 
out-doors  and  hats  for  the  house,  hats  for  peo- 
ple of  different  occupations.  The  commonest 
out-door  hat  is  round,  square-topped,  and  with 
the  wide,  flat,  brim  halfway  up  the  crown.  The 
hats  worn  at  the  royal  court  are  like  high 
skull-caps,  with  wide  flaps  or  wings  projecting 
at  the  sides.  The  straw  hats  worn  by  drovers 


STRANGE   PEOPLES. 


and  people  in  mourning  are  shaped  like  the  top 
of  a  parasol  and  measure  two  feet  and  a  half 
across. 

Until  lately  people  in  Corea   carried  wooden 
blocks  to  show  who  they  were.    These  blocks  were 

carried  by  boys  of 
fifteen  and  all  older 
persons.  They  were 
called  "name-tablets," 
and  were  made  of 
pear-wood  or  ma- 
hogany. They  were 
about  two  inches 
long  and  a  half  inch 
wide.  There  was 
writing  upon  both 
sides.  At  the  top 
on  one  side  was  the 
name  of  the  ward  where  the  boy  lived ;  below 
it  were  the  words  "  leisure-fellow,"  meaning  that 
he  was  not  a  servant;  then  came  the  boy's 
name,  and  lastly  his  date  of  birth.  On  the 
other  side  was  the  date  on  which  the  tablet  was 
issued,  and  the  seal  of  the  officer  who  gave  it. 
When  a  boy  was  older  his  "  name-tablet  "  was  of 
box-wood;  still  later  —  after  he  had  passed  an 
examination  —  his  tablet  was  cut  from  black  horn ; 


COREAN    HAT    (LOWELL). 


COREANS.  79 

when  finally  he  took  highest  honors,  it  was  made 
of  ivory.  Poor  people,  of  the  lowest  class,  also 
carried  tablets,  but  of  a  different  sort ;  upon  these 
the  bearer  was  described. 

In  Corea  there  is  much  cold  weather  with  ice 
and  snow.  Much  clothing  is  needed  for  warmth, 
and  several  garments  of  one  sort  may  be  worn 
one  over  another.  In  the  houses  they  have  kangs 
for  warmth  at  night.  Under  the  house,  or  under 
a  certain  part  of  it,  there  is  built  a  sort  of  oven 
or  furnace ;  above  this  is  a  floor  of  stones  and,  per- 
haps, earth  upon  which  oiled  paper  is  smoothly 
spread.  A  fire  is  built  in  the  furnace  and  the 
sleepers  stretch  themselves  upon  the  heated  floor. 
It  is  not  a  satisfactory  mode  of  heating,  but  is 
used  not  only  among  the  Coreans  but  also  among 
their  Tatar  neighbors. 

Everywhere  in  Corea,  Japan,  China,  and  Tibet 
the  people  are  Buddhists.  But  in  all  these  coun- 
tries we  find  also  much  worship  of  demons  or  bad 
spirits.  Nowhere  is  there  more  of  this  than  in 
Corea.  They  believe  that  there  are  spirits  every- 
where, some  good,  some  bad.  They  are  afraid 
of  these  bad  spirits  and  do  many  things  to  ward 
off  their  mischief.  Upon  the  roof  of  the  king's 
palace  are  a  lot  of  ugly  figures  of  bronze  that 
resemble  pigs  and  monkeys.  All  are  different, 


gO  STRANGE   PEOPLES. 

but  all  are  as  terrible  as  their  makers  could  shape. 
These  are  intended  to  frighten  bad  spirits  away. 
No  one  but  the  king  may  have  just  these  guardian 
animals ;  other  important  persons  have  two  pic- 
tures fastened  at  the  door;  at  the  doors  of  the 
poor  are  hung  a  bunch  of  rice  straw,  and  a  bit  of  old 
rag.  The  two  pictures  represent  two  great  gen- 
erals, one  a  Chinese  and  the  other  a  Corean,  who 
were  such  valiant  fighters  against  demons  that 
their  very  pictures  scare  them.  As  for  the  things 
on  the  poor  man's  door,  it  is  believed  that  the 
spirits  will  stop  to  eat  the  grains  of  rice,  and  that 
they  will  think  the  rag  the  man's  clothing  and  will 
do  their  harm  to  it  without  entering  the  house. 

Among  the  Coreans  the  tiger  is  much  admired 
and  much  feared.  They  believe  that  bad  men 
and  evil  spirits  can  turn  themselves  into  tigers,  and 
they  have  many  strange  stories  of  these  tiger-men 
magicians.  Thus  they  say  that  once  a  man  was 
travelling  through  a  lonely  and  desolate  region. 
Toward  evening  he  was  surprised  to  come  upon 
a  fine  house.  Entering  and  asking  shelter  he 
found  an  old  man  living  alone  there.  He  felt 
sure  things  were  wrong  and  that  the  old  man  was 
a  tiger-magician.  He  was  right;  it  was  the  king 
of  all  the  tiger-magicians.  If  he  had  shown  his 
fear  he  would  have  been  torn  to  pieces,  but  he 


TIBETANS.  8 1 

pretended  to  be  brave.  When  the  old  man  asked 
him  who  he  was  and  where  he  was  going,  he 
boldly  declared  he  was  hunting  for  tiger-magi- 
cians, of  whom  he  meant  to  kill  two  hundred,  that 
he  might  carry  their  skins  to  the  king.  When 
the  old  man  —  who  you  remember  was  king  of 
the  tiger-magicians  —  heard  this  bold  talk  he  was 
terribly  scared.  Secretly  he  called  his  subjects 
together  and  told  them  of  their  danger.  They 
advised  him  to  kill  two  hundred  tiger-magicians 
who  were  in  jail  and  give  their  skins  to  the  hunter, 
begging  him  to  spare  the  rest.  The  traveller  gladly 
accepted,  and  taking  the  skins  sold  them  for  much 
money.  This  man  had  a  cowardly  neighbor  who 
heard  the  story  and  determined  to  try  the  same 
trick.  When  he  reached  the  tiger-king's  palace, 
however,  he  got  scared,  the  tigers  knew  his  fraud, 
and  falling  upon  him  they  killed  him. 

XV. 

TIBETANS. 

FEW  countries  are  naturally  so  difficult  of  access 
as  Tibet.  It  is  a  lofty  plateau.  To  reach  it  from 
any  side  frightful  mountains  must  be  passed. 
Not  only  is  the  country  itself  difficult  to  reach, 
but  the  Tibetans  do  not  like  strangers.  They  do 


82  STRANGE  PEOPLES. 

everything  in  their  power  to  keep  white  men  out 
of  the  country.  Few  travellers  of  our  race  have 
ever  been  to  the  heart  of  Tibet.  Recently  the 
American  traveller,  W.  W.  Rockhill,  has  visited 
that  country  and  written  interestingly  of  it,  and 
later  A.  Henry  Savage  Landor  claims  to  have  had 
exciting  adventures  there.  But  the  journey  that 
is  best  known  and  has  been  most  talked  of  was 
made  more  than  fifty  years  ago  by  two  French 
missionaries  named  Hue  and  Gabet. 

Starting  from  China  these  gentlemen  traversed 
Mongolia  and  Tatary  and  penetrated  to  the  sa- 
cred Tibetan  city  of  Lhassa.  They  returned  to 
China  over  a  different  route.  It  was  a  fearful 
journey.  The  road  led  along  the  side  of  vast 
cliffs,  over  raging  torrents  where  the  bridges  were 
composed  of  chains  hung  from  bank  to  bank  with 
boards  laid  crosswise  of  them,  through  snowdrifts, 
and  over  sheets  of  glacier  ice. 

The  people  of  Tibet  vary  in  stature,  color,  hair, 
and  other  characters,  but  all  are  Mongolic  and  all 
speak  Tibetan.  Some  of  the  tribes  are  nomads 
—  either  herders  or  pillagers ;  others  are  settled 
and  live  by  agriculture,  notwithstanding  the  cli- 
mate. In  Lhassa  itself  they  are  tradespeople  and 
traders.  They  are  good  weavers  and  make  excel- 
lent woollen  stuffs.  They  are  skilled  goldsmiths, 


TIBETANS.  83 

and  their  fine  wares  go  to  decorate  the  temples 
and  monasteries.  They  make  the  finest  incense 
in  the  world. 

The  most  important  thing  in  Tibet  is  religion. 
Their  religion,  which  is  called  Lamaism,  is  a  sort 
of  Buddhism  peculiar  to  Tibet.  Tibet  might  be 
called  a  theocracy,  or  a  land  where  a  god  rules. 
For  the  ruler  of  Tibet,  called  the  Dalai-lama,  is 
considered  no  common  man,  but  a  real  god  on 
earth.  Many  centuries  ago,  in  India,  there  lived  a 
man  named  Gautama  or  Sakyi-muni.  He  was  wise 
and  good,  and  the  new  religion  which  he  taught 
was  a  great  improvement  upon  the  Brahmanism 
of  India.  On  account  of  his  wisdom  and  good- 
ness, he  was  called  Buddha,  but  he  never  claimed 
to  be  himself  a  god.  Since  his  death,  however, 
many  millions  of  people  in  many  lands  have  wor- 
shipped him  as  a  god. 

All  Buddhists  believe  that  there  may  be  many 
Buddhas  —  that  Gautama  was  one  Buddha,  and 
that  there  were  others  before  him  and  will  be 
others  hereafter.  In  Tibet,  however,  they  think 
that  there  are  always  Buddhas  on  earth,  and  that 
when  one  Buddha  dies  his  spirit  at  once  enters 
the  body  of  some  little  babe,  who  becomes  a 
Buddha  in  his  place.  The  Dalai-lama  is  the 
greatest  of  living  Buddhas.  There  are  many 


84 


STRANGE  PEOPLES. 


others  in  different  parts  of  Tibet  and  Tatary,  all  of 
whom  are  worshipped  as  gods.  The  Dalai-lama 
lives  in  Lhassa,  the  sacred  city,  in  a  beautiful 
palace,  and  has  many  priests  to  serve  him.  He 
is  the  all-powerful  being  in  the  land. 

But  he  does  not  trouble  himself  about  govern- 
ing his  people.  He  appoints  a  nomekhan  to  rule 
for  him.  The  nomekhan  has  four  kalons  who  are 


TIBETAN   LAMAS   BLOWING   ON    SHELLS    (VERNEAU). 

appointed  to  assist  him.  These  four  appoint  all 
the  other  officers,  most  of  whom  are  lamas  or 
priests.  Really  the  lamas  control  everything  in 
Tibet.  Generally  they  live  together  in  great 
buildings  called  lamaseries.  These  are  to  be  seen 
everywhere  in  the  land,  and  are  often  perched  upon 
the  summits  of  lofty  mountains,  from  which  they 
overlook  the  country  for  miles  around.  Some 


TIBETANS.  85 

lamaseries  contain  but  a  few  priests,  others  con- 
tain many  thousands.  The  lamas  are  at  once 
known  from  the  people  by  their  dress. 

The  lamas  receive  support  from  the  common 
people,  and  when  it  is  not  brought  to  them,  they 
go  to  gather  it.  Hue  met  two  lamas  on  horseback 
gathering  gifts  of  butter  from  the  shepherds. 
"  Their  course  is  this :  they  present  themselves 
at  the  entrance  of  each  tent  and  thrice  sound  a 
marine  conch.1  Thereupon  some  member  of  the 
family  brings  out  a  small  roll  of  butter,  which, 
without  saying  a  word,  he  deposits  in  a  bag  sus- 
pended from  the  saddle  of  each  lama's  horse. 
The  lamas  never  once  alight,  but  content  them- 
selves with  riding  up  to  each  tent,  and  announc- 
ing their  presence  to  the  inmates  by  the  sound  of 
the  shell." 

When  a  Dalai-lama  dies,  search  is  made  for 
the  new  one.  Prayers  are  said  in  all  the  lama- 
series, processions  are  made,  incense  is  burned. 
Even  the  common  people  everywhere  pray. 
There  are  certain  signs  by  which  a  baby 
shows  that  the  spirit  of  a  lama  has  entered 
him.  All  parents  who  think  their  baby  the 
one  send  word  to  Lhassa  and  bring  their  babies 
there.  All  are  carefully  examined,  and  the  three 

1 A  shell  used  as  a  trumpet. 


86 


STRANGE   PEOPLES. 


who  best  show  the  signs  of  being  Buddha  are 
taken.  After  fasting  for  six  days,  the  priests 
who  decide  the  matter  take  a  golden  urn  contain- 
ing three  little  fish  of  gold,  upon  each  of  which 
is  engraved  the  name  of  one  of  the  three  babies. 


MONGOLS   CHOOSING   A   LAMA    (HUC). 

The  urn  is  shaken  and  one  of  the  fish  is  drawn. 
The  baby  whose  name  is  engraved  on  it  becomes 
the  Dalai-lama.  To  the  unlucky  babies  before 
they  are  sent  home  a  present  of  five  hundred 
ounces  of  silver  is  given. 

Every  day  near  sunset  in  Lhassa,  all  the  men, 


TIBETANS.  87 

women,  and  children  stop  whatever  they  may  be 
doing  and  gather  in  the  public  squares  of  the 
city.  There,  grouped  by  sex  and  age,  they  kneel 
and  chant  their  evening  prayer.  This  prayer 
would  seem  to  us  curious,  for  it  asks  for  nothing. 
The  commonest  prayer  is  —  om  mani padme  hum, 
which  means  "  the  jewel  in  the  lotus."  By  the 
jewel  they  mean  divine  power.  The  lotus  is  a 
water-lily.  The  prayer  is  about  the  same  thing 
as  calling  on  the  name  of  God.  This  prayer  they 
repeat  over  and  over  again. 

To  write  this  prayer  where  it  will  be  seen  is  a 
good  act.  One  may  see  it  everywhere.  It  is 
printed  on  the  flags  that  fly  above  the  buildings. 
Pious  rich  men  pay  lamas  to  go  through  the 
country  and  chisel  these  sacred  words  on  rocks 
and  cliffs. 

Tibet  is  the  land  of  prayer  wheels.  Prayer 
wheels  contain  the  prayer  written  many  times : 
every  time  the  wheel  is  turned,  so  many  prayers 
are  supposed  to  have  been  said.  Prayer  wheels 
are  of  all  sizes.  The  commonest  stand  near  la- 
maseries, and  are  set  to  turning  with  the  hand. 
Some  lazy  lamas,  however,  find  it  too  much  work 
to  turn  the  wheels  themselves  and  so  arrange 
them  that  they  are  turned  by  wind  or  water. 

On  the  twenty-fifth  of  each  month  pious  lamas 


88  STRANGE   PEOPLES. 

"  send  horses  to  weary  travellers."  On  the  roads 
there  are  many  hardships,  and  travellers  often 
become  weary  and  perish.  To  help  them  the 
lamas  send  them  horses,  and  the  way  they  do  it 
is  this.  Going  to  some  lofty  summit  where  the 
wind  blows  heavily,  they  throw  strips  of  paper 
bearing  pictures  of  horses  into  the  air,  and  the 
wind  carries  them  away.  The  lamas  believe  that 
by  this  sacrifice  of  paper  horses  they  supply  real 
ones  to  the  needy  travellers. 

XVI. 

JAPANESE. 

IT  is  a  great  mistake  to  think  of  the  Chinese 
and  Japanese  as  much  alike  ;  they  are  really  vastly 
different.  The  Japanese  is  smaller,  more  deli- 
cately built,  quicker,  and  more  lively  than  the 
Chinese ;  he  delights  in  novelties  and  borrows 
them  from  everywhere  and  from  everybody.  The 
Chinese  language  consists  chiefly  of  words  of  one 
syllable ;  the  Japanese  have  many  long  words  of 
many  syllables.  While  unlike  in  body,  disposi- 
tion, and  language,  the  Chinese  and  Japanese  are 
alike  in  many  customs,  arts,  and  ideas.  For  long 
centuries  the  Japanese  borrowed  much  from  China, 
or  from  Corea,  which  had  learned  from  China. 


JAPANESE. 


89 


The  Japanese  owe  their  writing,  the  cultivation 
of  tea,  silk  raising  and  weaving,  lacquer  work, 
porcelain,  metal  work- 
ing, and  many  religious 
ideas  to  China.  But 
lately,  in  their  hurry  to 
borrow  all  sorts  of 
things  from  the  Euro- 
pean and  American 
whites,  they  have  be- 
come ashamed  of  many 
of  their  Chinese  ideas 
and  customs. 

On  the  seventh  day 
of  a  Japanese  baby's 
life,  the  little  head  is 
shaved  clean  except  for 
a  tuft  on  the  nape  of  the 
neck.  From  that  time 
on,  the  head  is  shaved 
until  the  boy  goes  to 
school,  but  tufts  are  left 
here  and  there,  accord- 
ing to  the  fancy  of  the 
mother.  After  a  boy  begins  school,  his  hair  is 
left  to  grow.  Japanese  children  have  many  sports 
and  games,  but  they  are  quiet  and  gentle  in  them 


JAPANESE  GIRL  WITH  BABY 

(ARNOLD). 


9O  STRANGE   PEOPLES. 

all.  The  older  children  carry  their  baby  brothers 
and  sisters  strapped  firmly  on  their  backs.  There 
are  many  interesting  things  for  Japanese  children 
to  see  on  the  streets.  There  is  the  sand  painter ; 
he  sweeps  a  space  clean  and  then  opens  several 
bags  of  different  colored  sand;  he  sprinkles  hand- 
fuls  of  it  here  and  there  on  the  ground  until  he 
has  made  a  pretty  picture.  There  is  the  man 
who  moulds  and  blows  rice  paste  into  all  sorts 
of  queer  shapes,  while  the  little  buyers  look 
on  with  delight;  his  sweet  stuff  is  shaped  into 
rabbits,  foxes,  monkeys,  flowers,  jinrikishas,  fans, 
umbrellas,  etc.  There  is  the  man  who  sells 
sugared  peas,  candied  beans,  and  other  sweets; 
he  beats  a  drum  and  sings  a  song  as  he  walks,  so 
as  to  attract  a  crowd  of  children,  and  when  he 
stops  he  tells  a  story,  or  does  some  trick,  to  amuse 
them.  Then  there  is  the  little  old  woman  of  the 
batter  cakes ;  she  carries  a  little  earthenware 
stove  with  a  fire  of  charcoal  in  it ;  this  she  hangs 
at  one  end  of  a  pole  balanced  upon  her  shoulder, 
and  at  the  other  end  hang  a  griddle,  ladles,  cake 
turners,  a  jar  of  batter,  and  a  sauce  of  salt  and 
beans  to  eat  with  the  cakes ;  the  children  pay  five 
cents,  and  the  old  lady  sets  everything  down, 
whereupon  the  children  have  great  fun  making 
their  own  cakes  and  eating  them  on  the  street. 


JAPANESE.  91 

Japanese  children  are  ever  gay  and  happy,  but 
there  are  two  days  in  the  year  of  especial  joy. 
The  third  day  of  the  third  month  is  the  Dolls 
Festival.  This  is  the  day  for  the  little  girls.  At 
that  time  dolls  and  all  sorts  of  toy  tools,  imple- 
ments, vessels,  and  dishes  are  for  sale.  The 
Japanese  are  fond  of  dolls,  and  in  some  families 
they  have  dolls  that  have  been  kept  more  than 
two  hundred  years.  In  some  families  they  will 
have  dozens  or  scores  of  dolls.  Among  these 
there  is  always  one  that  represents  the  Emperor, 
another  the  Empress,  and  others  the  courtiers. 
At  the  time  of  the  festival  all  these  dolls  are 
carefully  arranged  on  a  stepped  platform.  The 
Emperor  and  Empress  are  given  the  seats  of 
honor,  and  the  rest  are  grouped  around  them. 
With  these  are  arranged  all  the  toy  objects. 
The  fifth  day  of  the  fifth  month  is  the  Boys' 
Festival.  Then  they  are  selling  bows  and  arrows 
and  other  toy  weapons  everywhere.  Everywhere 
they  hang  out  great  paper  fishes,  shaped  like 
carp,  and  brightly  painted.  These  are  hung  to 
tall  bamboo  poles  of  which  there  is  one  set  in 
front  of  every  house  where  they  have  a  boy  in 
the  family.  One  fish  is  hung  for  each  boy,  and 
it  is  a  gay  sight  to  see  the  hundreds  of  bright 
fish  waving  and  tossing  in  the  wind.  The  rea- 


STRANGE   PEOPLES. 


son  why  the  carp  is  represented  is  because  it 
swims  up  the  river  against  the  current;  so  it  is 
hoped  "  the  sturdy  boy,  overcoming  all  obstacles. 


BOYS'  FESTIVAL:    JAPAN  (BRAMHALL). 


will  make  his  way  in  the  world  and  rise  to  fame 
and  fortune." 

Japanese  houses  consist  of  a  light  framework 
supporting  a  heavy  thatched  or  tiled  roof.     The 


JAPANESE.  93 

sides  of  the  house  are  wooden  slides,  which  are 
usually  removed  in  the  daytime,  leaving  the 
sides  open.  In  cold  weather,  slides  consisting  of 
frames  covered  with  paper  can  be  fitted  in  to 
form  walls.  The  house  is  divided  into  rooms  by 
sliding  screens  of  paper,  which  can  be  easily 
removed  so  as  to  join  two,  three,  or  more  rooms 
into  one.  There  are  no  tables  or  chairs.  The 
floors  are  covered  with  thick  mats.  At  night 
quilts  are  brought  in  and  laid  down  for  beds;  in 
the  morning  these  are  rolled  up  and  stored  away. 

Japanese  gardens  are  curious  and  beautiful. 
They  may  be  small,  and  frequently  they  contain 
no  flowers.  Sometimes  a  pretty  landscape  is  built 
of  rocks  and  water:  there  are  little  mountains 
and  hills,  valleys,  streams,  waterfalls,  lakes. 
Wonderful  in  such  gardens  are  the  dwarfed  trees. 
They  may  be  pine  trees,  fifty  or  one  hundred 
years  old,  flourishing  and  perfect  in  form,  but  not 
more  than  a  foot  in  height. 

While  Japanese  gardens  frequently  contain 
none,  the  people  are  wonderfully  fond  of  flowers. 
Among  the  favorites  are  the  chrysanthemum, 
plum  blossoms,  and  cherry  blossoms.  When 
these  are  in  bloom  every  one  goes  to  the  places 
where  they  grow  and  delight  in  their  beauty. 
These  flower  picnics  are  looked  forward  to  for 


94  STRANGE   PEOPLES. 

months.  The  cherry  and  plum  trees  are  cov- 
ered :  "  You  see  no  leaves  —  only  one  great  filmy 
mass  of  petals.  Japanese  chrysanthemums  are 
wonderful ;  there  are  many  strange  or  beautiful 
varieties.  At  one  place  in  Tokyo,  these  flowers 
are  wrought  into  all  sorts  of  curious  compositions 
—  men  and  gods,  boats,  bridges,  castles,  etc." 

The  Japanese  love  to  hear  stories.  There  are 
fairy  stories  for  the  little  people  and  tales  of 
adventure  and  history  for  the  larger  ones.  There 
are  men  whose  business  is  story  telling.  Some 
of  these  wander  about  until  they  find  a  good  spot, 
when  they  will  stop  and  begin  the  tale ;  a  crowd 
soon  gathers  to  listen.  Others  are  hired  to  tell 
their  stories  in  a  story-telling  house,  where  people 
gather  every  evening,  just  as  at  the  theatre. 

We  have  said  so  much  about  amusements  and 
festivals  that  you  may  think  the  Japanese  are 
always  playing.  No  indeed,  they  are  hard  work- 
ers. They  cultivate  their  fields  industriously ; 
they  have  many  trades ;  they  are  great  traders ; 
they  are  fine  artists.  Their  silk  weaving,  their 
metal  work,  their  lacquer  work,  and  their  porcelains 
are  famous. 

In  these  last  years  Japan  has  made  great 
changes.  She  has  borrowed  so  much  from  the 
whites  that  they  have  little  left  to  teach  her.  To- 


AINU.  95 

day  she  has  all  our  great  inventions  —  telegraphs 
and  telephones,  electric  lights  and  railroads ;  and 
in  borrowing  so  much  that  is  new  she  has  lost 
and  is  losing  much  —  very  much  —  of  the  happy 
old  life. 

XVII. 

AINU. 

BEFORE  the  Japanese  entered  what  is  now  Japan 
that  country  was  occupied  by  the  Ainu,  among 
the  most  interesting  people  of  the  world.  There 
are  not  many  of  them.  In  Yezo,  the  northern 
island  of  Japan,  there  are  about  seventeen  thousand, 
and  in  the  island  of  Saghalien,  formerly  Japanese, 
but  now  Russian,  there  are  others.  They  are  not 
like  the  Japanese,  but  are  considered  whites,  not 
Mongolians.  The  men  measure  about  five  feet 
four  inches ;  the  women  not  more  than  five  feet 
two  inches.  Their  color  is  flesh,  with  a  tinge  of 
red  or  yellow;  their  eyes  are  large  and  do  not 
appear  to  slant  like  those  of  the  yellow  peoples ; 
their  hair  is  abundant  and  tangled  and  they  have 
much  beard.  Their  body  is  very  hairy.  They 
are  filthy  and  rarely  wash  themselves. 

The  women  tattoo,  beginning  in  girlhood. 
The  patterns  are  cut  in  the  flesh  with  a  razor 
and  soot  is  rubbed  into  the  lines ;  to  render  the 


96  STRANGE  PEOPLES. 

color  permanent,  water  in  which  ash-tree  bark  has 
been  steeped  is  rubbed  over  the  part  tattooed.  The 
tattooing  first  done  is  at  the  centre  of  the  upper 
lip ;  later  the  lower  lip.  The  marks  are  added  to 
from  time  to  time  until  they  cover  the  upper  lip 


AINU:     A   HAIRY   SPECIMEN    (BATCHELOR). 

and  reach  from  ear  to  ear.  Such  women  appear 
to  have  a  great  moustache.  After  marriage  a 
woman's  forehead  may  be  tattooed,  also  patterns 
may  be  made  up  the  backs  of  the  hands  and  on  the 
arms,  and  rings  may  be  tattooed  around  her  fingers. 


AINU. 


97 


Ainu  clothing  is  generally  made  of  elm  bark, 
and  that  worn  by  men  and  women  is  much 
alike.  The  bark  is  stripped  from  the  tree  in 
spring,  when  it  is  full  of  sap.  It  is  soaked  in 
water  to  separate  the  inner  and  outer  bark. 
Fibres  are  secured  from  the  inner  bark,  which 


AINU   WOMEN:     SHOWING  TATTOOING    (FROM   A   PHOTOGRAPH). 

can  be  woven  like  thread  into  cloth.  The  men's 
garments  of  this  fibre  cloth  are  adorned  with  pat- 
terns embroidered  with  colored  threads ;  those  of 
women  are  generally  plain. 

The  Ainu  house  is  rectangular,  with  a  rather 
frail  support  and  a  substantial  thatched  roof. 
The  roof  is  built  first ;  then  the  chief  posts  of  the 
walls  are  set  and  the  roof  is  lifted  up  and  put  on 


98  STRANGE   PEOPLES. 

them.  Ainu  houses  grow  as  the  family  grows. 
A  young  married  couple  build  a  small  house ;  as 
they  have  children  a  new  and  larger  house  is  built 
behind  the  old  one,  which  remains  as  a  sort  of 
hall ;  when  the  family  is  still  larger  and  richer, 
the  hall  is  torn  down  and  a  larger  house  is  built 
behind  the  second  one,  which  now  becomes  a  hall 
or  porch  to  it.  There  are  two  windows  and  one 
door  in  these  houses.  The  windows  are  on  the 
south  and  east  sides,  while  the  door  is  at  the  west 
end.  The  east  end  of  the  house  and  its  window 
are  sacred  ;  people  must  not  throw  things  through 
this  window  nor  spit  out  of  it.  Sometimes  the 
men  worship  the  rising  sun  as  they  see  it  through 
this  east  window. 

The  Ainu  are  hunters  and  have  ingenious  ways 
of  capturing  or  killing  animals.  In  hunting  deer 
they  use  a  little  squeaking  whistle,  the  sound  of 
which  attracts  the  animals.  They  set  bows,  with 
arrows  on  the  stretched  cord,  near  trails  over 
which  deer  and  bears  pass ;  in  passing,  the  animal 
strikes  a  cord  which  lets  loose  a  trigger,  and  the 
arrow  flies.  They  also  set  a  trap  consisting  of  a 
stout  bow,  which,  when  sprung,  shuts  two  boards 
tightly  together ;  the  foot  of  the  animal  "is  caught 
between  these  and  held  fast.  Formerly  the  Ainu 
used  poisoned  arrows  in  hunting.  These  had  a 


AINU.  99 

broad,  hollowed  point,  in  which  a  little  of  the 
poisonous  paste  was  stuck.  The  poison  was 
made  from  the  root  of  aconite  mixed  with 
tobacco,  peppers,  and  poisoned  spiders.  These, 
and  other  substances,  were  carefully  mixed  into  a 
gummy  paste.  At  present  the  Japanese  govern- 
ment forbids  the  Yezo  Ainu  to  use  these  poi- 
soned arrows. 

The  bear  hunt  is  looked  forward  to  with 
anxiety.  It  is  in  the  spring  while  snow  is  yet  on 
the  ground.  Before  starting  the  hunters  pray  to 
their  gods  for  help  and  direction.  Dogs  accom- 
pany them.  When  a  den  is  found,  there  is  great 
excitement.  They  try  to  draw  the  animal  out 
by  teasing  him  with  long  poles.  If  he  will  not 
come  out,  one  of  the  men  draws  his  knife,  enters 
the  den,  and  faces  the  bear.  The  animal  pushes 
him  aside,  when  the  hunter  pricks  him  from 
behind  with  his  knife.  The  angry  animal  then 
rushes  forth,  growling  and  snarling.  The  hunters 
and  dogs  waiting  outside  soon  despatch  him, 
though  frequently  some  one  is  hurt  or  killed. 
The  hunters  then  sit  down  near  the  dead  bear 
and  say  all  kinds  of  pretty  things  to  him,  pretend- 
ing that  they  are  sorry  to  have  killed  him,  and 
asking  his  forgiveness.  They  then  skin  him,  cut 
up  the  meat,  carry  it  home,  and  have  a  feast. 


TOO  STRANGE  PEOPLES. 

At  Ainu  feasts  the  men  always  become  dread- 
fully drunk  from  drinking  rice  wine.  When 
he  drinks,  the  Ainu  uses  a  little  stick  to  lift  his 
moustache  and  keep  it  from  the  wine.  These 
moustache  lifters  are  made  for  the  purpose  and 
are  frequently  neatly  carved. 

Sometimes  Ainu  hunters  secure  a  little  bear 
cub,  which  they  carry  carefully  home.  It  is  fed 
with  the  best  of  food,  and  treated  as  a  great  pet. 
When  it  is  so  big  as  to  be  rough  and  trouble- 
some, they  put  it  in  a  cage.  When  it  is  quite 
grown,  a  bear  feast  is  planned.  Many  guests  are 
invited.  The  men  eat  millet-cakes  and  drink 
rice  wine.  After  feasting  for  some  time  two  men 
noose  the  bear  with  ropes  and  drag  him  around ; 
the  whole  company  then  worry  and  tease  the 
poor  creature,  finally  choking  him,  after  which 
they  eat  him. 

The  Ainu  have  many  gods.  In  praying  to 
them  they  use  inao.  These  are  little  sticks 
which  are  so  whittled  with  knives  that  curls  of 
shavings  hang  from  them.  There  are  several 
ways  of  cutting  these,  and  they  are  believed  to 
please  the  gods.  They  are  stuck  up  in  the 
ground  and  left  where  prayers  are  made.  Ainu 
men  spend  much  time  whittling  these  inao. 


HINDUS.  10 1 

XVIII. 

HINDUS. 

THE  Hindus  are  but  one  of  the  many  peoples 
living  in  India.  They  are  considered  a  Caucasic, 
white  people,  though  their  skin  is  a  dark  brown 
and  they  have  black  hair  and  eyes.  Their  lan- 
guage belongs  to  the  Aryan  family,  to  which  most 
European  languages  belong. 

The  dress  of  the  Hindus  is  too  well  known  to 
need  description.  Hindu  women  are  fond  of  jew- 
elry, and  wear  rings,  arm  rings,  ankle  rings,  ear- 
rings, and  nose  rings  of  many  kinds  and  made  of 
gold,  silver,  or  brass.  The  Hindus  bear  marks 
stamped  upon  themselves.  Thus  a  round  spot  in 
the  middle  of  the  forehead,  horizontal  lines  across 
the  forehead, .  or  perpendicular  lines  from  the 
root  of  the  nose  to  the  top  of  the  forehead,  show 
to  which  of  the  great  religious  sects  the  man  be- 
longs. These  marks  are  made  fresh  every  morn- 
ing. 

The  Hindus  are  divided  into  four  castes,  or 
classes.  These  are  named  Brahmans,  Kshatriyas, 
Vaisyas,  and  Sudras.  There  is  a  yet  lower  popu- 
lation called  Pariahs.  The  Brahmans  are  the 
highest ;  they  are  priests  or  religious  men  ;  every- 
body must  yield  to  them.  The  Kshatriyas  come 


IO2  STRANGE   PEOPLES. 

second,  and  are  soldiers  or  warriors.  The  Vaisyas 
are  the  traders,  or  merchant  class.  The  Sudras 
are  the  lowest,  and  are  the  people  who  have  trades, 
or  are  laborers.  The  Hindus  say  that  these  dif- 
ferent classes  of  men  came  from  the  body  of 
Brahma,  their  great  god;  that  the  Brahmans 
came  from  his  mouth ;  the  Kshatriyas  from  his 
arm  ;  the  Vaisyas  from  his  thigh  ;  and  the  Sudras 
from  his  feet.  As  for  the  poor  Pariahs,  they  do 
not  seem  to  have  come  from  Brahma,  and  no  one 
has  anything  to  do  with  them.  Each  of  these 
castes  was  so  much  higher  than  the  next  one  that 
they  might  not  even  be  touched  by  them  without 
being  defiled  and  needing  to  be  purified.  People 
of  different  castes  might  not  drink  from  the  same 
vessel  or  eat  from  the  same  dish.  One  writer 
says :  "  I  saw  a  high-caste  Hindu  dash  an  earthen 
jar  of  milk  upon  the  ground  and  break  it  to  atoms, 
merely  because  the  shadow  of  a  Pariah  had  fallen 
upon  it  as  he  passed."  Under  English  govern- 
ment many  of  these  notions  in  India  are  passing 
away.  The  Pariah's  lot,  however,  is  perhaps  as 
hard  as  ever. 

Many  trades  are  practised  in  India,  some  of 
them  most  skilfully.  Whatever  trade  a  man  fol- 
lows will  be  that  of  his  son  after  him,  as  it  was 
that  of  his  father  before  him.  Hindus  are  fine 


HINDUS.  103 

weavers,  and  some  of  their  muslins  are  delicate 
and  costly.  They  are  glass-makers,  potters,  car- 
penters, blacksmiths,  goldsmiths,  brass  founders, 
shell  workers,  shoemakers,  barbers.  These  trades 
are  carried  on  in  the  open  streets ;  the  men  carry 


HINDU   DANCING  GIRLS  AND   MUSICIANS    (VERNEAU). 

tools  with  them,  and  when  they  secure  an  order 
they  set  up  their  outfit  and  fall  to  work.  Among 
pretty  things  sold  in  India  are  figures  in  clay  rep- 
resenting all  sorts  of  tradesmen  at  work. 

Hindus  tame  and  train  elephants  as  beasts  of 
burden.  The  native  princes,  in  particular,  use 
them.  A  palanquin  in  which  the  prince  sits  is 
mounted  on  the  elephant's  back.  These  royal 
elephants  are  gorgeously  decked  out,  and  the  pal- 
anquin is  brilliant  with  metals  and  precious  stones. 


104  STRANGE  PEOPLES. 

Elephants  are  also  employed  in  caravans  and  in 
the  exciting  tiger  hunts. 

The  Hindus  love  amusements.  They  are  fond 
of  music  and  have  many  curious  instruments. 
Dancing  girls  dance  for  the  amusement  of  guests 
at  feasts  given  in  the  homes  of  the  wealthy.  They 
usually  take  their  own  musicians  with  them ;  one 
of  these  plays  upon  a  little  drum,  the  other  on  a 
kind  of  guitar.  Street  exhibitions  are  frequent. 
Parties  of  acrobats  go  about  performing  feats. 
Every  one  has  heard  of  the  Hindu  jugglers.  Mr. 
Ward  describes  some  tricks  he  saw  done.  Thus, 
the  juggler  spreads  a  cloth  on  the  ground:  in  a 
moment  a  movement  is  seen  under  it :  the  cloth 
is  raised  and  under  it  are  pineapples  growing. 
The  juggler  picks  the  fruit  and  presents  it  to  the 
spectators  to  show  that  it  is  real.  Again,  he  takes 
a  large,  clay  jar,  fills  it  with  water,  and  turns  it 
upside  down  to  let  the  water  run  out ;  when  he 
turns  it  up  again,  it  is  full  of  water.  .Again,  he 
puts  a  lean  dog  into  a  common  basket ;  opening 
it,  he  shows  the  dog  with  a  litter  of  pups ;  cover- 
ing these  and  opening  again,  there  is  a  goat ;  again 
the  basket  is  put  down  and  raised  and  shows  a 
live  pig;  again  —  and  the  pig  is  dead  with  its 
throat  cut ;  then  he  ends  the  trick  by  again  cov- 
ering and  uncovering,  when  the  pig  is  seen  alive 


HINDUS.  105 

and  well.  How  does  he  do  it  ?  Almost  as  won- 
derful as  these  juggler's  tricks  are  the  perform- 
ances of  the  snake  charmers.  They  carry  the 
dreaded,  poisonous  cobras  around  in  baskets  and 
handle  them,  playing  at  the  same  time  on  their 


HINDU   SNAKE  CHARMERS    (BREHM). 

little  flutes,  quite  as  if  the  creatures  were  entirely 
harmless. 

Nowhere  in  the  world  are  there  more  dreadful 
religious  customs  than  in  India.  People  there 
are  so  crowded  that  life  is  hard.  The  result  of 
this  was  that  parents  often  destroyed  their  little 
babies,  particularly  girls.  Often  the  mothers 
themselves  threw  the  little  beings  into  the  sa- 


IO6  STRANGE   PEOPLES. 

cred  river,  where  they  were  drowned  in  its  waters 
or  were  eaten  by  crocodiles.  At  the  great  reli- 
gious festivals,  men  tortured  themselves  fearfully, 
or  threw  themselves  under  the  chariot  of  the  god 
that  they  might  be  crushed  to  death.  The  dead 
among  the  Hindus  were  usually  cremated  — 
burned  upon  a  great  open  fire  of  wood.  For- 
merly the  widow  of  the  dead  man  mounted  the 
funeral  pyre  and  was  burned  with  his  body.  The 
English  government  has  put  an  end  to  many  of 
these  practices,  and  among  them  this  suttee,  or 
burning  of  the  widow.  It  has  really  done  little 
good,  as  a  widow's  life  is  so  sad  that  she  might 
almost  better  die.  A  widow  must  shave  her  head, 
wear  miserable  clothing,  and  serve  every  one  like 
a  slave :  she  is  despised  and  harshly  treated. 

Few  peoples  have  caused  as  much  wonder  as 
the  Gypsies.  With  their  swarthy  complexions, 
black  hair  and  eyes,  and  handsome  faces,  they 
are  a  striking  type.  They  love  out-door  life,  and 
hate  to  be  within  walls.  They  wander  from  place 
to  place,  pitching  their  tents  where  fancy  leads 
them.  They  are  tinkers,  mending  pots  and  ket- 
tles ;  they  are  horseshoers,  jockeys,  horse  traders, 
horse  doctors ;  they  tell  fortunes,  in  which  almost 
all  of  us  believe  a  little,  and  every  one  fears  them  a 
little.  There  are  many  thousands  of  them  in  the 


TODAS. 

United  States  :  there  are  many  in  Great  Britain, 
Spain,  Italy,  Poland,  and  other  European  coun- 
tries ;  they  are  in  North  Africa,  in  Mexico,  in  Bra- 
zil, in  India.  Everywhere  they  are  the  same,  and 
everywhere  they  talk  their  own  language,  the 
Romany.  It  is  believed  that  they  first  came 
from  India,  and  that  they  are  related  to  the 
Hindus. 

XIX. 

TODAS. 

IN  the  "hill  country"  of  India  live  many  curi- 
ous brown  peoples  whose  languages  are  different 
from  the  Aryan  tongue  of  the  Hindus.  These 
peoples,  called  Dravidians,  are  considered  the 
earliest  occupiers  of  India.  Among  them  no 
tribe  is  more  curious  than  the  Todas.  In  some 
ways  they  are  like  the  Ainu.  Though  brown, 
they  are  probably  really  white  or  Caucasic.  They 
have  the  features,  strong  beards,  and  hairy  bodies 
of  whites,  and  in  these  respects  are  like  the  Ainu. 

The  Todas  live  on  a  tableland  whose  surface 
is  covered  with  hills  and  rolling  prairies.  The 
hills  are  clad  with  coarse  grass,  and  in  some  of 
the  valleys  are  deep  forests.  The  sunshine  is 
bright  and  warm,  and  the  dry  season  is  long. 

The  Todas  think  only  of  their  cattle.     They 


IO8  '   STRANGE   PEOPLES. 

do  not  hunt  —  in  fact,  they  have  no  weapons; 
they  do  not  cultivate  any  fields,  getting  what 
plant  food  they  use  from  the  Badagas  and  other 
neighboring  tribes.  But  they  do  raise  cattle  — 
buffalo.  Their  villages  are  located  in  the  midst 
of  pasture  land.  No  village  is  occupied  for  a 
whole  year,  but  the  people  have  always  at  least 
two  villages  and  live  first  in  one,  then  in  the 
other.  This  is  to  have  fresh  pasture  for  their 
cattle  and  to  be  secure  in  the  wet  season.  Toda 
villages  contain  but  few  houses,  most  of  which 
consist  of  a  single  room  eight  feet  square ;  some- 
times two  or  three  such  rooms  are  set  side  by  side 
—  these  do  not  open  into  each  other,  but  each  has 
an  outside  door.  The  roofs  of  these  houses  are 
thatched  and  project  a  yard  or  so  beyond  the 
house  walls.  The  people  sit  under  the  shelter  of 
these  projecting  roofs  while  they  work  or  visit. 
There  are  no  windows  or  chimneys  to  the  houses. 
Everything  in  the  house  has  its  proper  place  — 
the  pestle  and  mortar  for  pounding  grain,  the 
fireplace,  and  the  raised  bank  of  clay  that  serves 
the  old  people  as  a  sleeping  place.  Near  the 
house  is  a  pen  of  stones  and  mud  for  the  owner's 
cattle. 

All  the  cattle  of  the   villages  are   herded   to- 
gether.    There  is  one  dairy  for  the  village,  and 


TODAS.  IO9 

all  the  cattle  are  milked  there  by  special  dairy- 
men. After  milking,  these  men  give  out  so  much 
milk  as  is  needed  to  every  one  in  the  village ; 
from  the  balance  they  make  butter  which  they 
divide  to  the  men  of  the  village  according  to 
the  number  of  cattle  each  owns.  We  have 
already  said. that  the  Todas  raise  no  crops.  The 
Badagas  and  Kotas  live  on  the  land  of  the  To- 
das ;  they  are  stronger  and  more  vigorous  than 
the  Todas,  and  both  tribes  have  weapons  and 
could  easily  defeat  them  in  battle.  But  they  live 
in  peace  with  them  and  pay  them,  as  rent  for 
their  land,  grains  and  other  produce  they  need. 
We  have  spoken  of  the  common  village  herds. 
There  are  other  (sacred)  herds,  which  are  cared 
for  by  dairymen  priests,  who  are  themselves  al- 
most worshipped.  The  priest  has  an  assistant 
who  cuts  wood  for  him  and  otherwise  serves 
him.  When  the  priest  milks  the  sacred  cows, 
and  he  alone  may  do  so,  he  repeats  a  prayer.  He 
does  the  same  when  he  carries  the  milk  into  the 
dairy.  The  village  people  treat  him  and  his  assis- 
tant with  great  respect  and  may  not  touch  them, 
nor  any  of  the  implements  they  use.  Men  and 
boys  may  go  to  the  wall  that  encloses  the  dairy 
buildings,  but  may  not  enter.  Women  may  not 
go  near  the  place. 


HO  STRANGE   PEOPLES. 

The  cows  in  the  sacred  herds  have  descended 
from  sacred  cows  of  the  past.  In  each  herd  there 
is  an  especially  sacred  "bell-cow."  This  means 
that  she  is  the  owner  of  an  ancient  cow-bell 
which  the  dairyman  priest  keeps  in  the  dairy. 
It  belonged  to  her  mother  before  her  and  to 
her  mother,  and  so  on  back.  When  a  bell-cow 
dies,  the  bell  has  to  be  put  upon  her  daughter. 
The  priest  brings  it  out  from  the  dairy  and  waves 
it  around  and  around  the  head  of  the  cow  morn- 
ing and  night  for  three  days.  As  he  does  so  he 
says : — 

"  What  a  fine  cow  your  predecessor  was. 
How  well  she  supported  us  with  milk ; 
Won't  you  supply  us  in  like  manner  ? 
You  are  a  god  among  us. 
Do  not  let  the  Tirieri '  go  to  ruin. 
Let  one  become  a  thousand  ! 
Let  all  be  well ! 
Let  us  have  plenty  of  calves  ! 
Let  us  have  plenty  of  milk  !  " 

The  cow  wears  the  bell  for  three  days  and  nights, 
after  which  it  is  taken  off  forever.  It  is  not  used 
again  until  the  old  cow  dies  and  her  daughter  is 
then  made  bell-cow  in  her  place. 

Perhaps  you  would  like  to  know  how  the  priest 

1  Sacred  dairy. 


TODAS. 


Ill 


fills  his  time?  One  day  is  much  like  another 
with  him.  When  he  rises  he  washes  his  face, 
hands,  and  teeth.  He  makes  a  little  lamp  from  a 
leaf  and  after  filling  it  with  butter  places  five  wicks 
in  it.  After  lighting  it  he  sets  it  to  burn  in  front 
of  the  ancient  bells  and  other  sacred  objects.  He 


GROUP  OF  TODAS    (VERNEAU). 

then  takes  his  staff  and  bamboo  milk  pail  and 
goes  to  milk  the  cows.  He  salutes  them  and 
prays  to  them  before  milking.  Carrying  the  milk 
into  the  dairy,  he  sprinkles  some  drops  upon  the 
sacred  bells  as  an  offering  and  repeats  the  names 
of  the  gods.  He  then  makes  butter  from  the  milk 
of  the  preceding  day.  His  work  is  now  done,  and 


112  STRANGE   PEOPLES. 

he  prepares  food  for  himself  and  his  assistant. 
This  man  then  drives  the  herd  to  pasture  and 
gathers  firewood.  The  last  thing  before  going  to 
sleep  at  night,  the  priest  puts  fresh  butter  and 
wicks  into  the  little  lamp  before  the  bells. 

The  Todas  have  other  curious  customs,  but  we 
have  no  space  to  describe  them.  Their  saluta- 
tions, the  naming  of  children,  the  yearly  feast, 
when  they  eat  a  young  buffalo  bull  (they  rarely 
eat  meat  at  any  other  time),  and  their  funeral 
customs  are  all  interesting.  Every  man  who  dies 
among  the  Todas  has  two  funerals,  called  the 
green  and  the  dry  funeral,  a  year  apart. 

XX. 

ANDAMANESE  :   MINCOPIES. 

EAST  of  British  India  and  south  of  Cochin- 
China  in  the  Bay  of  Bengal  are  the  Andaman 
Islands,  on  which  the  Mincopies  live.  They  are 
small  in  stature,  black  or  dark  brown,  with  broad 
round  heads,  and  crinkly  or  woolly  hair.  They 
are  often  called  negritos,  or  little  negroes. 

An  Englishman  named  Man  lived  for  some 
years  in  the  Andaman  Islands  and  became  much 
interested  in  the  little  blacks.  He  learned  their 
language  and  has  described  their  customs. 


ANDAMANESE:    MINCOPIES.  113 

The  Mincopies  are  true  savages,  living  entirely 
on  wild  food ;  they  are  gentle  and  non-savage  in 
disposition.  The  islands  are  well  supplied  with 
food.  "  The  sea  which  washes  their  coasts  is  full 
of  fish  and  abounds  with  turtles;  the  jungles  are 
filled  with  wild  pigs ;  the  bees  furnish  abundance 
of  wild  honey."  From  plants  they  get  roots  and 
fruits.  They  have  no  cultivated  fields  and  no 
domestic  animals.  Although  savages,  these  little 
people  know  how  to  build  good  houses.  These 
are  huts  some  thirty-five  by  forty  feet ;  the  frame- 
work is  of  posts  and  poles  and  the  firm  thatch  is 
of  palm  leaves.  The  huts  are  arranged  about  an 
oval  or  elliptical  cleared  space,  where  they  hold 
their  dances.  When  off  on  long  hunting  trips 
the  Mincopies  build  rude  shelters  of  branches  and 
leaves.  In  their  villages  boys  and  girls,  unless 
they  are  still  babies,  do  not  sleep  in  the  houses 
with  grown  persons,  but  there  are  two  special 
sleeping  houses  —  one  for  boys  and  the  other  for 
girls.  In  the  houses  of  the  Mincopies  fires  are 
kept  burning.  It  is  said  that  these  people  do  not 
know  how  to  kindle  fire ;  if  this  is  true,  they  are 
almost  the  only  people  who  are  ignorant  of  this 
important  knowledge.  They  are  careful  of  the 
fires  they  have  and  feed  them  well. 

Unless  they  think  they  have  some  reason  to 


114  STRANGE   PEOPLES. 

fear  strangers,  the  Mincopies  receive  them  kindly. 
The  little  children  are  taught  to  respect  visitors. 
"  They  are  the  first  served ;  the  best  dishes  are 
offered  to  them ;  they  are  accompanied  at  their 
departure ;  before  separating  they  clasp  hands, 
and  instead  of  embracing  they  blow  in  each 
other's  faces ;  then  they  engage  in  an  affectionate 
dialogue.  Finally  they  separate  with  mutual 
promises  of  meeting  again." 

The  adoption  of  children  is  common  among 
Mincopies.  It  is  rare  that  any  child  remains  with 
its  parents  after  it  is  six  or  seven  years  old.  Some 
friend  of  the  family  wishes  to  show  his  friendship 
and  asks  to  adopt  the  child.  The  little  one  goes 
to  his  house  and  belongs  to  him.  The  parents 
may  visit  him  in  his  new  home,  but  no  longer 
have  any  control  over  him.  His  new  father  may 
do  what  he  likes  with  him,  even  to  giving  him 
away  to  some  other  person  who  may  wish  to 
adopt  him.  When  children  are  about  twelve 
years  of  age,  they  begin  a  fast,  which  is  kept  up 
until  they  are  almost  men  and  women ;  during 
that  time  they  must  not  eat  turtle,  pork,  fish,  or 
honey.  After  several  'years  of  thus  fasting,  they 
may  again  eat  these  foods. 

There  are  rules  about  foods  for  grown  persons, 
too.  During  certain  parts  of  the  year  they  must 


ANDAMANESE:    MINCOPIES.  115 

not  eat  some  kinds  of  roots  and  fruits ;  their  god 
Puluga  will  be  displeased  if  they  do.  Children 
must  not  eat  the  flesh  of  the  two  water  animals, 
the  dugong  and  porpoise.  And  to  every  person 
there  is  some  one  kind  of  food  which  he  must  not 
eat  in  all  his  life ;  this  forbidden  food  differs  with 
the  persons. 

We  have  said  a  good  deal  about  the  kindness 
of  the  Mincopies :  they  are  not  always  good. 
They  have  their  quarrels  and  battles  like  the 
rest  of  the  world.  They  are  quick-tempered  and 
often  become  angry  for  a  small  offence.  When 
a  Mincopy  is  angry,  he  acts  like  a  naughty  child, 
striking  and  breaking  everything  around  him,  even 
his  own  choicest  treasures.  Trouble  sometimes 
breaks  out  between  two  tribes  in  the  midst  of  a 
feast.  In  their  wars  they  destroy  and  carry  off 
property  ;  they  take  no  prisoners  among  the  men, 
killing  the  wounded,  but  children  of  the  enemy 
are  usually  kept  alive  and  kindly  treated.  Some.- 
times  they  try  to  harm  enemies  by  witchcraft,  or 
conjuring.  They  think  that  Puluga  dislikes  the 
smell  of  burning  beeswax  and  will,  in  his  anger, 
send  forth  a  storm.  So,  when  they  know  that 
their  enemy  is  going  fishing  or  hunting,  they  burn 
beeswax  so  that  the  angry  Puluga  will  send  a 
storm. 


Il6  STRANGE  PEOPLES. 

Most  curious  is  the  funeral  of  a  child  among  the 
Andamanese.  When  a  little  one  dies  there  is 
general  weeping.  Parents  and  friends  paint  their 
bodies  with  clay ;  their  heads  are  fresh  shaved,  and 
upon  them,  over  the  forehead,  men  place  a  lump 
of  clay,  while  women  put  one  upon  the  top  of  the 
head.  The  mother  prepares  the  little  body  for 


ANDAMAN   ISLANDERS    (TYLOR). 

burial ;  she  shaves  and  paints  the  head,  neck, 
wrists,  and  knees  with  red  ochre ;  she  then  folds 
the  little  body  together  and  wraps  it  in  great 
leaves  and  binds  the  bundle  thus  made  with  cords. 
The  grave  is  dug  in  the  floor  of  the  hut,  under 
the  fireplace.  After  gently  blowing  a  few  times 
upon  the  little  face  in  farewell,  the  child  is  buried 


ANDAMANESE:    MINCOPIES.  1 1/ 

and  the  fire  is  rebuilt  over  the  grave.  The  mother 
leaves  a  few  drops  of  her  own  milk  in  a  cup  on 
the  grave.  The  hut  is  then  deserted,  a  garland 
of  rushes  being  fastened  around  it  to  show  that 
a  death  has  taken  place.  The  whole  village  then 
moves,  that  the  child's  spirit  may  not  be  disturbed. 
After  three  months  of  mourning,  they  all  return. 
The  little  skeleton  is  dug  up,  the  bones  are  painted 
red  or  yellow  and  distributed  as  keepsakes  to  the 
friends,  who  wear  them  as  necklaces  in  memory 
of  the  dead  child.  This  seems  dreadful  to  us,  but 
our  people  often  keep  locks  of  hair  cut  from  a 
dead  child's  head ;  it  is  the  same  thing.  At  this 
time  the  lumps  of  clay,  signs  of  mourning,  are 
removed  from  the  heads  and  foreheads.  Some 
days  later,  there  is  a  gathering  of  all  the  friends. 
The  father,  holding  his  remaining  children  in  his 
arms,  sings  a  mourning  song:  the  women  take 
part  in  the  chorus,  and  all  the  rest  cry  noisily. 
The  parents  then  dance  "  the  dance  of  tears," 
after  which  they  withdraw  to  the  hut.  The  vis- 
itors keep  up  the  dance  some  hours  longer. 


Il8  STRANGE   PEOPLES. 

XXI. 

ARABS. 

THE  old  home  of  the  Arabs  was  Arabia;  to- 
day they  are  found  not  only  in'  Arabia,  but  over 
half  of  Asia  and  all  of  Northern  Africa.  Their 
great  wanderings  began  with  the  founding  of 
Mohammedanism  about  the  year  622  A.D.  Full 
of  zeal,  the  Arabs  carried  the  new  religion  in 
every  direction. 

The  Arab  is  a  white  man,  but  a  dark  one. 
His  language  belongs  to  the  Semitic  family  and 
resembles  the  old  Hebrew  language.  Arabic  is 
a  soft  and  poetical  language  which  is  spoken  to- 
day by  myriads  of  people  who  are  not  Arabs  by 
blood.  The  Arab  is  of  moderate  stature ;  he  is 
thin  but  muscular,  and  has  great  endurance ;  he 
has  a  long  head  and  a  narrow,  oval  face ;  his 
nose  is  long,  thin,  and  prominent;  his  hair  and 
eyes  are  black. 

We  always  think  of  the  Arab  as  dwelling  in 
tents.  This  is  only  partly  true.  In  Arabia 
itself  about  one-fourth  of  the  Arabs  are  wandering 
tent-dwellers  ;  in  Northern  Africa,  especially  near 
the  great  desert,  many  are  nomadic.  But  every- 
where we  also  find  settled,  town-inhabiting  Arabs 
also. 


ARABS.  1 19 

The  tents  of  the  desert  Arabs  are  large,  low, 
and  flat;  the  covering  is  a  firm  wool  and  camel's- 
hair  cloth.  During  the  daytime,  at  least,  the 
sides  are  raised  to  permit  the  air  to  circulate. 
These  tents  are  easily  taken  down  and  packed, 
and  as  easily  set  up.  Desert  Arabs  have  flocks 
of  sheep  and  herds  of  goats,  camels,  and  horses. 
Every  one  has  heard  of  the  beauty,  gentleness, 
and  spirit  of  the  Arabian  horses  —  the  finest 
perhaps  in  the  world.  Their  owners  love  them 
and  treat  them  as  tenderly  as  children.  Horses 
are  rarely  used  by  Arabs  as  draught  animals  or 
burden  bearers,  but  only  for  riding.  The  camel 
it  is  upon  which  the  Arab  packs  his  heavy  bur- 
dens for  desert  travel.  The  nomad  Arab  lives 
chiefly  on  food  drawn  from  his  flocks  and  herds. 
Mutton  is  his  most  important  meat;  couscous  is 
a  favorite  food  (see  Kabyles).  The  nomad  Arabs 
are  pillagers,  and  fall  upon  caravans  of  traders 
to  rob  them.  Still  they  are  hospitable  to  the 
stranger  who  comes  to  their  tent  asking  shelter ; 
in  fact,  they  treat  him  with  the  greatest  polite- 
ness. A  table  is  set  before  him ;  he  is  given 
water  to  wash  his  hands;  the  master  himself 
receives  the  food  from  the  servants  and  places  it 
before  his  guest.  The  Arabs  admire  strength 
and  agility,  and  at  evening,  before  their  tents, 


I2O 


STRANGE   PEOPLES. 


the  young  men  of  the  encampment  practise 
tumbling,  wrestling,  hurling,  and  other  feats  of 
strength. 


CAMEL  AND   PALANQUIN    (FROM   A  PHOTOGRAPH). 

The  town  Arabs  live  in  comfortable  houses. 
Most  of  these  are  of  a  single  story,  though  some 
are  of  two;  they  enclose  a  central  open  court; 


ARABS.  121 

they  are  flat-roofed;  a  large  gateway  gives  en- 
trance to  the  court,  and  is  high  enough  for  a 
man  on  horseback  to  ride  through.  The  flat 
house  tops  make  a  favorite  resting-place  in  the 
cool  of  the  day.  Streets  in  Arab  towns  are 
narrow,  crooked,  and  filthy.  In  Arab  towns 
are  noticed  at  once  many  domes  and  minarets: 
the  domes  usually  mark  some  famous  grave ;  the 
minarets,  mosques.  These  graves  are  those  of 
some  pious  Mohammedan  saint.  There  are 
thousands  of  them  to  which  the  Arabs  flock  to 
say  their  prayers  and  to  be  cured  of  disease. 
Often  at  such  tombs  dervishes  go  through  with 
their  strange  performances.  Some  pierce  them- 
selves with  swords,  with  no  signs  of  pain ;  others 
spin  around  and  around  on  their  heels  until  one 
wearies  of  watching  them,  and  wonders  why  they 
do  not  fall. 

The  town  Arab  is  more  particular  about  his 
religion  than  the  Bedouin  dweller  in  the  desert. 
He  must — and  every  good  Mohammedan  should 
-wash  his  hands  before  eating;  he  must  pray 
five  times  a  day  with  his  face  turned  toward 
Mecca.  Mecca  is  so  sacred  to  them  because  it 
was  the  home  of  Mohammed ;  every  Arab  and 
other  good  Mohammedan  tries,  once  in  his  life,  to 
go  on  a  pilgrimage  to  Mecca,  where  he  must  see 


122  STRANGE   PEOPLES. 

the  Kaabah,  or  black-stone.  Arabs  are  much 
given  to  pious  exclamations.  Thus  before  eating 
or  beginning  any  business  they  say  Bismallak^ 
which  means  In  God's  name,  and  on  finishing  the 
meal  or  successfully  completing  the  business  they 
say  Hamdoualla/i,  Praise  God.  This  piety  does 
not  interfere  with  the  town  Arab  driving  hard 
bargains  in  business.  He  loves  trade  and  money. 
He  frequently  goes  in  caravans  to  trade  in  other 
places.  The  Arabs,  too,  are  the  slave-traders 
in  Africa.  This  cruel  business  has  not  yet  been 
stopped  completely.  The  traders  buy  negroes 
where  they  can,  and  hunt  them  almost  like  wild 
animals  when  they  cannot  buy  them.  In  some 
places  the  hunted  beings  take  refuge  in  trees, 
which  have  been  prepared  as  places  of  safety 
from  which  they  defend  themselves. 

Formerly  the  Arabs  were  more  important  than 
now.  Seven  or  eight  hundred  years  ago  Arabia 
was  the  world's  centre  of  learning  —  or  at  least 
the  Arab  cities  were.  At  a  time,  when  Europe 
had  lost  much  of  what  she  once  possessed,  the 
Arab  world  was  full  of  philosophers,  physicians, 
poets,  and  astrologers.  From  the  Arabs  Europe 
gained  much  of  the  knowledge  that  we  now  pos- 
sess. But  those  bright  days  of  Arabian  glory 
are  past.  To-day  the  boys  in  Arab  schools  learn 


ARABS.  123 

little  but  reading,  writing,  and  arithmetic.  They 
learn  long  passages  from  the  Koran  —  the  sacred 
book  of  Mohammedanism.  The  little  fellows  — 
for  girls  do  not  go  to  school  —  sit  on  the  floor, 
and  all  study  aloud,  the  louder  the  better,  be- 
cause then  the  teacher  will  know  that  they  are 
studying. 

XXII. 

THE   PEOPLES  OF   AFRICA  :    KABYLES. 

WE  rightly  think  of  Africa  as  the  home  of  the 
negroes,  but  it  is  a  mistake  to  think  that  no  other 
peoples  dwell  in  that  continent.  The  peoples  of 
North  Africa  are  white  peoples ;  their  complex- 
ions are  often  dark,  but  in  head,  form,  features, 
and  character  they  are  like  Europeans,  rather 
than  negroes.  There  are  many  types  in  North 
Africa.  There  are  the  modern  Egyptians,  who 
look  like  their  great  and  famous  distant  ances- 
tors ;  there  are  the  Berbers  and  Kabyles,  of  whom 
we  shall  say  more  later;  there  are  Arabs;  there 
are  "  Jews,"  especially  in  Algeria,  Morocco,  and 
the  other  Barbary  States ;  there  are  Moors  also, 
who  are  a  mixed  people  with  some  negro  blood. 

True  Negro-Africa  begins  near  the  Equator 
and  stretches  southward.  The  Sudan  is  the 


124  STRANGE  PEOPLES. 

great  negro  country.  There  are  four  areas  in 
this  Sudanese  negro  belt:  the  upper  Nile  valley, 
the  Sudan  proper,  the  Senegambian  district,  and 
Guinea.  In  these  four  sections  the  people  are 
negroes,  though  here  and  there  somewhat  mixed. 
Most  of  Africa  south  of  this  negro  belt  is  occu- 
pied by  negroids,  who  consist  of  many  tribes 
and  resemble  negroes  in  their  narrow  heads  and 
woolly  hair;  they  are,  however,  less  dark  in  color, 
more  graceful  in  build,  and  more  intelligent. 
Scattered  here  and  there  in  Equatorial  Africa 
are  bands  of  Pygmies,  men  and  women  among 
whom  are  like  boys  and  girls  among  us  in  size. 
In  far  Southern  Africa  live  the  Bushmen  and 
Hottentots,  among  negroid  tribes. 

The  Kabyles  are  among  the  most  interesting 
of  North  African  peoples.  There  are  two  types, 
the  dark  and  the  light  Kabyles.  The  latter  have 
light  skin,  fair  hair,  blue  eyes,  and  much  resemble 
the  light  whites  of  Europe.  The  Kabyles  are 
tall,  well  built,  and  active.  They  are  industrious 
and  love  labor.  They  are  a  mountain  people 
and  love  their  home.  Their  towns  are  located 
upon  the  slopes  or  on  the  summits.  The  houses 
are  usually  of  one  story  and  have  flat  roofs. 
There  are  two  rooms,  —  one  for  the  family  and 
the  other  for  the  animals.  When  there  are  two 


THE  PEOPLES   OF  AFRICA:    KABYLES. 


125 


stories  to  a  house,  it  shows  that  the  owner  has 
a  married  son  living  with  him ;  the  upper  story 
has  been  built  above  the  old  house  for  the  young 
couple.  A  little  garden  always  surrounds  the 
house.  The  Kabyl  country  is  rather  cold,  and 


GROUP  OF  KABYLES:  ALGERIA  (FROM  A  PHOTOGRAPH). 

the  houses  are  not  widely  separated,  so  that  they 
assist  in  protecting  each  other  against  the  winds. 
In  winter  the  family  lives  in  a  sort  of  cellar  under 
the  house. 

The   Kabyles  work  hard  to  raise  their  little 
crops.      Their  fields  are  down  in  valleys  or  are 


126  STRANGE   PEOPLES. 

terraced  out  on  the  hill  slopes.  They  raise 
barley,  wheat,  gourds,  cucumbers,  and  melons ; 
they  raise  flax ;  they  have  some  common  culti- 
vated plants  that  have  been  introduced  from 
Mexico,  as  the  prickly-pear  cactus,  maguey,  maize, 
tobacco,  and  potato.  The  prickly  pear  and  mag- 
uey are  so  common  that  landscapes  in  Algeria 
resemble  those  of  Mexico.  The  Kabyles  raise 
apples,  pears,  apricots,  olives,  figs,  grapes,  and 
nuts.  They  keep  bees,  and  have  quite  a  trade 
in  wax.  The  men  are  good  workers  in  metals 
and  leather,  and  trade  their  wares  to  their 
neighbors. 

The  women,  like  all  women  in  the  Mohamme- 
dan world,  delight  in  jewelry  and  ornaments,  and 
as  they  are  not  wearers  of  veils  they  have  a  good 
chance  to  display  their  treasures.  Couscous  is  a 
favorite  food  in  Northern  Africa,  not  only  among 
Kabyles,  but  Arabs  and  other  peoples.  Kabyl 
women  spend  much  of  their  time  in  its  prepara- 
tion. Flour  is  mixed  with  water  into  a  sort  of 
thick  dough,  which  is  divided  into  little  masses 
which  are  rolled  between  the  fingers.  These 
little  pellets,  almost  like  seeds,  they  steam  and 
eat  with  bits  of  meat  and  hot,  peppery  sauce. 

The  Kabyles  love  horseback  riding,  and  are 
bold  hunters.  They  fight  bravely  in  defence  of 


THE   PEOPLES  OF  AFRICA:    KABYLES. 


127 


their  homes.  Among  their  amusements,  perhaps 
falconry  stands  first.  The  falcon,  you  know,  is  a 
bird  much  like  a  hawk,  which  is  trained  to  chase 
and  kill  or  capture  smaller  birds  or  animals.  It 


MAKING   COUSCOUS   IN  THE   DESERT    (FROM   A  PHOTOGRAPH). 

is  carried  to  the  field  by  the  hunter  on  horse- 
back. The  bird  is  perched  upon  its  master's 
wrist,  and  is  blinded  by  a  hood  over  its  head. 
When  the  hunter  sees  game,  he  unhoods  the  fal- 
con and  lets  it  fly  after  the  victim. 


128  STRANGE   PEOPLES. 

XXIII. 
NEGROES. 

WE  have  already  spoken  of  the  district  of  true 
negroes.  In  the  Sudan  they  are  at  their  best 
and  purest  type.  The  skin  is  almost  black; 
the  head  long  and  narrow ;  the  face  narrow ;  the 
hair  kinky  and  woolly.  The  lower  part  of  the 
face  projects  far  beyond  the  upper  part.  The 
lips  are  thick.  Negroes  have  an  odor  which  is 
peculiar  to  them,  and  which  most  white  persons 
dislike.  Many  of  the  negro  tribes  are  composed 
of  persons  who  are  tall,  strong,  and  well  built. 

Almost  all  negroes  are  agriculturists,  living  in 
settled  villages.  Their  houses  are  usually  round 
huts.  The  Bongo  of  the  upper  Nile  build  huts 
about  twenty  feet  in  diameter  and  the  same  in 
height,  which  are  firm  and  well  built,  though 
made  only  of  poles  and  thatch.  The  entrance  is 
so  low  that  one  crawls  into  the  hut  on  hands  and 
knees.  On  the  conical  roof  are  built  benches  of 
straw,  on  which  persons  sit  to  overlook  and  guard 
the  planted  fields.  The  floor  inside  the  hut  is 
made  of  hard,  well-beaten  clay.  Skins  of  animals 
serve  as  beds.  The  Wolofs  of  the  Sudan  make 
very  similar  huts,  but  do  not  construct  the  seats 
on  the  roof.  Among  both  tribes  they  build  little 


NEGROES.  129 

granaries  near  the  huts  ;  these  are  made  of  basket- 
work  and  are  set  up  on  posts  to  place  them  out 
of  reach  of  animals. 

The  African  negroes  are  fond  of  bright  colors 
and  tawdry  ornaments.  Objects  of  metal  and  glass 
beads  are  particularly  prized.  They  use  rings  of 
iron,  copper,  and  brass  of  all  sizes  for  the  arms, 
legs,  and  fingers.  Sometimes  so  many  rings  will 
be  put  upon  the  arms  that  they  completely  cover 
them.  The  negroes  in  some  tribes  pierce  ears, 
noses,  and  lips  for  inserting  ornaments.  The 
Bongo  women,  for  example,  pierce  a  series  of  holes 
along  the  rim  of  each  ear,  along  the  edges  of  the 
nose,  and  at  the  corners  of  the  mouth,  and  through 
each  hole  they  thrust  a  short  bit  of  grass  stalk. 
The  men  in  negro  tribes  often  bear  a  tribal  mark; 
this  is  usually  the  scar  or  scars  left  by  cutting  lines 
or  patterns  on  the  face  or  chest.  Thus  the  mark 
of  one  tribe  might  be  three  cuts  across  each  cheek; 
that  of  another  a  pattern  of  criss-cross  lines  upon 
the  forehead ;  another  tribe  in  the  central  lake 
district  had  a  line  of  wart-like  swellings,  at  equal 
distances  from  each  other,  extending  from  the 
root  of  the  nose  to  the  top  of  the  forehead.  All 
these  tribal  marks  were  cut  in  childhood,  and  the 
cutting  must  have  been  painful.  It  is  said  that 
the  Bornu  baby  boys  have  one  hundred  and  three 


130  STRANGE  PEOPLES. 

cuts  made  on  their  little  bodies  for  their  tribal 
sign. 

African  negroes  often  dress  their  hair  into 
strange  and  curious  forms,  as  do  also  the  neigh- 
boring negroids.  They  build  it  up  into  great 
horns,  train  it  out  in  little  strings,  the  ends  of 
which  they  fasten  to  a  wooden  ring,  build  it  into 
thick  mats  or  wigs,  and  insert  all  sorts  of  fibres, 
beads,  and  ornaments  in  it.  Of  course  such  care- 
fully trained  hair  must  not  be  spoiled  by  lying  on 
it,  so  they  have  the  same  sort  of  wooden  pillows 
as  the  Fiji  Islanders,  to  keep  the  head  off  the 
ground. 

These  wooden  pillows  are  often  decorated  with 
carvings  of  human  and  animal  figures.  Many  ne- 
groes delight  in  wood-carving  and  sometimes  make 
strange  masses  of  many  human  and  animal  fig- 
ures crowded  together  in  the  most  curious  way. 
These  they  paint  in  bright  colors.  Near  the  west 
coast  of  Africa  several  tribes  are  ivory  carvers, 
and  their  artists  will  cover  an  elephant's  tusk  with 
human  figures,  animal  forms,  and  geometrical 
designs;  no  space  will  be  lost;  every  spot  will  be 
filled. 

Most  of  the  negro  tribes  know  how  to  weave, 
and  some  of  their  cloth  made  from  grass  or 
vegetable  fibres  is  closely  and  well  woven.  The 


NEGROES.  1 3 1 

most  remarkable  art  of  the  negroes,  however,  is 
their  working  of  iron.  They  know  how  to  get 
iron  from  its  ore  and  to  work  it  into  desired  forms. 
They  build  a  little  conical  smelting  furnace  or  oven 
of  clay,  into  which  they  put  their  fuel  and  ore. 
They  then  blow  air  through  the  fire  with  their 
rude  bellows.  This  consists  of  two  earthen  ves- 


NEGRO   SMITHS  AT  WORK    (RATZEL). 

sels,  or  boxes  of  some  sort,  over  the  top  of  which 
bladders  or  skin  are  tied ;  tubes  lead  from  these 
vessels  and  the  lower  end  of  a  stick  is  tied  to  the 
middle  of  each  bladder  covering.  The  smith 
takes  the  upper  ends  of  the  sticks  in  his  hands 
and  works  them  up  and  down,  first  one  and  then 
the  other.  He  thus  forces  air  first  into  one  tube 


132  STRANGE   PEOPLES. 

and  then  into  the  other:  these  two  tubes  end  in 
a  single  clay  tube  which  conducts  the  air  into 
the  furnace.  After  the  blacksmith  gets  his  iron 
from  the  ore  he  works  it  with  heat  and  beating  to 
the  forms  wanted.  At  Benin  City,  which  was  at 
the  head  of  a  dreadful  negro  kingdom,  they  had 
learned  how  to  cast  bronze  and  made  wonderful 
objects  in  it.  They  made  rings,  bells,  animal  fig- 
ures, plaques  with  human  figures  represented  on 
them,  and  masks  of  the  human  head  of  life  size. 

Negroes  love  music  and  have  many  instru- 
ments, not  only  rattles,  drums,  whistles,  flutes, 
and  trumpets,  but  stringed  instruments  also.  In 
some  tribes  there  are  wandering  minstrels,  who 
go  from  place  to  place  playing  on  their  three- 
stringed  guitar  and  singing  songs  in  praise  of 
the  chief  or  king  whom  they  visit.  They  sing  in 
his  praise  if  he  pays  them 'well;  if,  however,  he 
is  stingy,  their  songs  make  bitter  fun  of  him. 
These  minstrels  are  either  men  or  women :  they 
are  feared  and  disliked,  but  well  treated,  as  no 
one  wishes  to  gain  their  ill  will. 

Some  of  the  most  brutal  and  cruel  acts  in  the 
world  are  done  among  negro  kingdoms  like 
Ashanti,  Dahomey,  and  Benin.  No  human  life 
is  there  safe.  The  king  orders  instant  death  to 
those  who  offend  him.  The  executioner's  knife 


NEGROES.  133 

is  kept  busy.  Cruel  butcheries  are  connected 
with  their  religion,  and  sometimes  the  king  will 
have  dozens,  scores,  or  even  hundreds  of  men 
killed  to  carry  messages  to  his  dead  father.  It  is 
also  among  negroes  that  we  find  cannibalism 
existing  in  revolting  forms  and  frightful  belief  in 
witchcraft.  Any  old  man  or  old  woman  may  be 
accused,  at  any  time,  of  being  a  witch :  it  takes 
little  to  prove  their  guilt,  and  they  are  speedily 
executed. 

Negroes  often  believe  that  some  men  can 
change  themselves  into  wild  animals  and  then 
resume  their  own  form.  They  are  especially 
afraid  of  man-leopards :  not  unfrequently  men 
who  have  been  thought  to  be  such  have  been 
executed.  We  cannot,  however,  blame  the  ne- 
groes much  for  such  ideas.  Not  long  ago  white 
Europeans  generally  believed  in  werewolves  (or 
manwolves),  and  there  are  still  districts  in  Europe 
where  such  beliefs  exist. 

Many  African  negroes  wear  charms  to  pro- 
tect themselves  against  harm.  Such  charms  are 
called  gri-gris.  Almost  anything  may  be  a  gri- 
gri :  a  part  of  some  animal,  a  plant,  a  curious 
stone.  Where  the  negroes  have  had  much  to 
do  with  Arabs  or  other  Mohammedans  a  favorite 
gri-gri  is  a  verse  from  the  Koran,  written  on 


134  STRANGE   PEOPLES. 

paper  done  up  in  a  little  leathern  pouch  and 
hung  about  the  neck.  Sometimes  a  man  will  be 
almost  covered  with  gri-gris.  He  may  have  so 
many  "  as  to  weigh  thirty  pounds,"  and  they  may 
hamper  him  so  "  that  he  must  be  helped  in 
mounting  a  horse." 

We  have  already  told  you  that  the  Arabs  still 
hunt  negro  slaves.  Many  of  the  negro  tribes 
themselves  keep  slaves  —  thus  the  Wolofs  do  so. 
They,  however,  treat  their  slaves  more  kindly 
than  the  Arabs  do. 

XXIV. 

NEGROIDS. 

THE  negroids  of  Southern  and  Eastern  Africa 
resemble  the  negroes.  They  are  generally  tall ; 
they  have  a  fine  dark  brown  color,  long  narrow 
heads,  hair  less  kinky  and  woolly  than  the 
negroes,  flat  nose  and  thick  lips.  They  do  not 
have  the  negro's  odor.  The  negroids  comprise 
many  different  tribes,  but  all  speak  related  lan- 
guages known  as  the  Bantu  languages.  The 
tribes  we  shall  consider  are  the  Zulus,  Kaffirs, 
and  Waganda. 

The  Zulus  and  Kaffirs  wear  generally  but 
little  clothing.  A  man  wears  a  cord  about  the 


NEGROIDS.  135 

waist  with  flaps  of  leather  hanging  from  it  in 
front  and  behind ;  the  woman  wears  a  fringed 
girdle  about  her  waist.  Sometimes  they  wear  a 
mantle  of  hairy  skins.  At  great  festivals  the 
men  deck  themselves  finely.  A  traveller,  describ- 
ing a  young  man  who  was  going  visiting,  says : 
"  He  will  wear  furs,  among  them  the  Angora 
goat ;  feathers  in  his  head-dress ;  globular  tufts 
of  beautiful  feathers  on  his  forehead  or  at 
the  back  of  his  head ;  eagle  feathers  in  fine 
head-dresses,  as  also  ostrich,  lory,  and  peacock 
feathers.  He  ties  so  many  tufts  and  tails  to  his 
waist  girdle  that  he  may  almost  be  said  to  wear  a 
kilt." 

The  negroids,  like  the  negroes,  are  agricultu- 
rists and  live  in  towns  of  huts.  Some  tribes  are 
raisers  of  cattle  and  have  large  herds  that  yield 
milk,  meat,  and  skins.  They  are  hunters,  too, 
and  that  on  a  large  scale.  They  set  up  long 
hedges  or  lines  of  brush  and  stakes,  which  con- 
verge toward  certain  points  where  they  dig  pits 
and  cover  them.  They  then  scatter  over  a  large 
district  and  beat  it,  scaring  in  the  animals  and 
driving  them  between  the  lines  of  brush  into  the 
pits,  where  they  easily  kill  them. 

The  two  great  weapons  of  the  southern  ne- 
groids are  the  kerry  and  the  assegai.  The  kerry 


136  STRANGE  PEOPLES. 

is  a  short  wooden  club  with  a  knob  at  the  end 
This  is  thrown  at  the  game.  The  assegai  is  a 
spear,  the  shaft  of  which  is  long  and  slender  and 
the  head  of  which,  made  of  iron,  is  long  and  wide. 
Assegais  are  used  all  through  South  and  Central 
Africa.  The  form  and  size  of  the  blade  varies 
with  tribes:  sometimes  it  is  two  feet  in  length 
and  several  inches  across.  Mrs.  French-Sheldon 
saw  the  assegai  maker,  in  one  tribe  she  visited, 
using  a  natural  leaf  as  his  pattern,  and  he  was 
careful  to  exactly  copy  its  form.  Both  negro  and 
negroid  tribes  in  some  parts  of  Africa,  especially 
Western  Central  Africa,  use  throwing-knives;  they 
are  made  from  a  flat  piece  of  iron,  worked  into 
several  blades  projecting  in  different  directions. 
They  are  thrown  through  the  air,  and  some  one 
of  the  ugly  blades  is  quite  sure  to  strike. 

Kaffirs  and  Zulus  make  long  oval  shields  almost 
as  tall  as  themselves,  for  protection  in  battle.  A 
cowskin,  with  the  hair  on,  is  stretched  over  a  light 
and  simple  wooden  frame.  Each  great  section  of 
Africans  has  its  own  kind  of  shield.  The  Niam- 
Niams  and  some  Congo  tribes  weave  beautiful 
close  and  light  shields  of  wicker  or  basket  work ; 
they  are  long  and  narrow,  and  protect  the  whole 
body.  The  splints  of  which  they  are  woven  differ 
in  color  and  are  worked  into  rather  handsome 


NEGROIDS. 


137 


patterns.  In  Nubia  they  use  shields  made  of 
thick  and  heavy  hide,  like  elephant  or  rhinoceros 
hide  ;  these  are  circular,  not  very  large,  and  have 
a  round  or  conical  knob  or  boss  raised  at  the 
centre. 

Kaffirs  and  Zulus  are  fond  of  war  and  are  brave 


WAGANDA  MUSICIANS    (RATZEL). 

in  battle.  They  have  war  dances  in  which  they 
are  inflamed  for  the  fray.  A  Kaffir  who  slays  an 
enemy  may  have  a  great  gash  cut  in  his  leg  on  his 
return  home  to  show  that  fact.  The  scars  of 
such  gashes  are  objects  of  great  pride.  The  Kaf- 
firs are  fine  speakers  and  their  speeches  on  impor- 
tant occasions  are  stirring  and  impressive.  Like 


138  STRANGE   PEOPLES. 

negroes,  the  negroids  delight  in  music  and  have 
many  instruments.  None,  however,  is  a  greater 
favorite  than  the  noisy  drum. 

Among  Zulus  and  Kaffirs,  the  sorcerer  is  much 
feared  and  dreaded.  When  men  are  ill,  or  in 
trouble,  they  go  to  him  for  help  and  advice.  He 
goes  through  with  many  strange  performances. 
The  people  believe  that  he  can  detect  thieves  and 
find  stolen  property,  that  he  can  bewitch  and  cure 
bewitchment;  he  is  frequently,  also,  a  rain-maker. 
There  is  much  jealousy  between  the  sorcerers  or 
rain-makers  in  a  tribe,  and  they  sometimes  chal- 
lenge each  other  to  tests  of  their  power.  The 
description  of  such  a  test  between  two  rain-makers, 
in  one  of  Rider  Haggard's  books,  is  probably  true 
to  life. 

XXV. 

PYGMIES. 

MANY  centuries  ago,  the  Greek  writers,  Homer, 
Herodotus,  and  Aristotle,  spoke  of  dwarf  peoples, 
whom  they  called  Pygmies,  living  in  Africa.  On 
an  ancient  Egyptian  wall  there  is  painted  a  queer 
little  dwarf-like  figure  with  the  word  Akka  written 
near  it.  It  is  plain  that  little  African  peoples 
were  known  both  to  the  Greeks  and  Egyptians. 
But  for  hundreds  of  years  after  the  old  Greek 


PYGMIES.  1 39 

writers  and  Egyptian  artists  were  dead,  no  one 
believed  in  real  Pygmies.  Every  one  felt  that 
the  accounts  of  them  were  "  travellers'  lies,"  told 
to  amuse  people.  But  travellers  who  have  been 
going  into  Africa  during  the  last  two  hundred 
years  and  more  have  from  time  to  time  told  us 
of  such  tribes,  and  to-day  there  can  be  no  doubt 
of  their  existence.  There  are  really  Pygmies,  and 
they  are  curious  and  interesting. 

When  the  great  German  traveller  Schweinfurth 
was  visiting  King  Munza  of  the  Monbuttus  in 
"  the  heart  of  Africa,"  he  learned  that  tribes  of 
Pygmies  lived  near.  There  were  nine  clusters 
of  them,  and  they  were  called  A kkas — just  like 
the  little  creature  represented  on  the  old  Egyp- 
tian wall  —  and  each  cluster  had  its  own  chief. 
At  one  time  Schweinfurth  saw  several  hundred 
of  these  little  people  together.  Munza  traded 
one  of  these  Pygmies,  whose  name  was  Neevoue, 
to  Schweinfurth.  The  traveller  was  kind  to  the 
little  fellow,  and  wanted  to  take  him  to  Germany, 
but  Neevoue  died  in  Egypt.  He  was  a  cruel 
little  creature,  not  very  bright,  and  had  great 
difficulty  in  learning.  Later  on,  in  Ashango 
Land,  much  farther  to  the  west,  Du  Chaillu 
found  the  dwarf  Obongos,  whom  he  described, 
and  whose  houses  he  pictured.  An  Italian  trav- 


140 


STRANGE   PEOPLES. 


eller  named  Miani  secured  two  Akkas  in  trade. 
He  planned  to  take  them  to  Italy,  but  he  died  on 
his  journey  home.  His  two  Pygmies,  however, 
reached  Italy,  where  a  kind-hearted  nobleman 


HUTS   OF   ASHANGO-LAND    DWARFS    (jJU    CHAILLU). 

took  care  of  them.  They  were  gay  and  happy, 
though  fitful,  and  were  rather  quick  to  learn ; 
they  learned  to  speak,  read,  and  write  Italian. 

So  much  was  known  about  the  Pygmies  before 
Stanley's  journey.  He  saw  many  of  them,  and 
tells  a  good  deal  about  them  and  their  life.  The 
Akkas  were  the  tribe  he  saw.  They  measure 
from  three  feet  to  four  feet  and  six  inches ;  a  full- 


PYGMIES.  141 

grown  man  weighs  about  ninety  pounds.  Some 
of  them  have  long  heads,  long,  narrow  faces, 
small,  reddish  eyes  placed  near  together,  and  are 
sour  looking  and  morose.  The  others  have 
round  faces  with  fine,  large,  bright  eyes  placed 
wide  apart,  high  foreheads,  skin  of  a  rich  ivory- 
yellow  color.  All  African  Pygmies  seem  to  have 
their  bodies  covered  with  short,  rather  stiff,  gray- 
ish hair.  Stanley  says  the  Akkas  place  their 
villages  near  the  towns  of  bigger  people,  and  that 
sometimes  eight  to  twelve  Pygmy  villages  will 
surround  one  negro  (or  negroid)  town.  These 
Pygmies  are  lively  and  active ;  they  do  not  culti- 
vate any  plants,  but  devote  thems.elves  to  hunting. 

They  use  little  bows  and  arrows,  and  small 
spears.  The  tips  of  the  arrows  and  spears  are 
often  poisoned.  With  these  weapons  these  little 
folk  attack  and  kill  antelopes,  buffalo,  and  even 
elephants.  They  dig  pitfalls  and  make  traps. 
Some  of  their  traps  are  like  sheds,  the  roofs  of 
which  are  held  in  place  by  vines ;  bananas  and 
nuts  are  placed  in  these  as  bait ;  when  chimpan- 
zees or  other  animals  try  to  take  the  bait,  the 
roof  falls.  The  Pygmies  catch  birds  for  their 
feathers,  and  hunt  for  wild  honey. 

The  Pygmies  use  two  kinds  of  arrow  poison. 
One  is  dark  and  thick  and  made  from  the  leaves 


142  STRANGE   PEOPLES. 

of  a  plant  quite  like  our  Jack-in-the-pulpit  or 
Indian  turnip.  The  other  is  believed  to  be  made 
from  red  ants,  —  which  are  dried  and  crushed  to 
powder,  —  mixed  with  palm  oil.  Both  are  said 
to  act  quickly  when  fresh.  Stanley  mentions 
one  man  who  died  within  one  minute  from  a 
small  wound  in  his  right  arm  and  chest.  When 
the  poison  is  old  it  acts  less  rapidly. 

These  Pygmies  live  in  low  oval  huts,  with 
doors  two  or  three  feet  high.  The  houses  are 
arranged  in  a  circle  about  an  open  cleared  space, 
in  which  the  chief's  house  stands.  About  one 
hundred  yards  from  the  village,  along  every  path 
that  leads  to  it,  is  a  little  guard  house,  only 
big  enough  for  two  Pygmies.  These  are  guard 
houses  and  toll  stations,  and  all  strangers  who 
pass  must  pay  toll.  The  Pygmies  are  usually  on 
good  terms  with  their  big  neighbors,  and  both 
are  useful  to  the  other.  The  little  people  sell 
their  ivory,  skins,  honey,  and  poison  to  their 
neighbors,  or  trade  them  for  vegetable  food. 
The  Pygmies,  keen  and  watchful,  are  good 
pickets  for  the  others,  and  often  warn  them  of 
danger  from  approaching  enemies. 


BUSHMEN  AND   HOTTENTOTS  143 

XXVI. 

BUSHMEN   AND   HOTTENTOTS. 

FAR  to  the  south  in  Africa,  in  and  about  the 
Desert  of  Kalahari,  live  the  Bushmen.  They  are 
somewhat  like  the  Pygmies.  They  are  little — full- 
grown  men  being  from  four  feet  to  four  feet  six 
inches  in  stature.  They  are  of  a  yellow-brown 
color;  their  hair  is  black  and  kinky,  but  appears 
to  grow  in  little  tufts  with  bare  spaces  between  ; 
the  jaws  project  and  the  lips  are  thick;  they 
wrinkle  early.  They  are  quick  and  lively  in 
movements,  and  are  bold  hunters. 

Little  bands  of  them  wander  from  place  to 
place,  without  any  fixed  home.  They  build  no 
houses.  Usually  they  live  in  holes  among  the 
rocks ;  at  most,  they  build  rude,  temporary  shel- 
ters. They  live  chiefly  on  game,  which  they  kill 
with  the  bow  and  arrow,  or  sometimes  with  the 
spear.  They  sometimes  trail  an  animal  a  long 
distance,  and  when  they  overtake  and  kill  it,  stop 
at  the  spot  to  eat  it.  They  are  wonderful  at 
following  the  trail  of  either  animals  or  men,  and 
see  signs  of  their  having  passed  which  a  white 
man  would  never  notice.  They  get  a  hard  liv- 
ing; they  gather  seeds  and  roots,  fruits  and 
gums;  they  hunt  the  honey  of  wild  bees;  they 


144  STRANGE   PEOPLES. 

catch  lizards  and  snakes.  They  are  so  fond  of 
the  white  grubs,  or  pupae  of  ants  —  which  we  usu- 
ally, but  wrongly,  call  ants'  eggs  —  that  the 
Boers,  living  near  the  little  people,  call  them 
"  Bushmen's  rice."  They  also  eat  the  huge  eggs 
of  the  ostrich,  and  make  water  vessels  out  of  the 
empty  shells. 

Their  bows  are  small  and  their  arrows  are 
hardly  more  than  a  foot  in  length ;  the  points  of 
bone,  stone,  or  iron  are  poisoned,  and  are  so 
attached  to  the  shaft  that  they  separate  and  re- 
main in  the  wound.  The  spear  and  darts  which 
they  use  are  also  small  and  have  poisoned  tips. 
In  the  quivers  with  their  arrows  they  carry  a 
little  sharpening  stone  for  grinding  the  points 
and  a  brush  for  applying  the  poison.  For  dig- 
ging roots  the  Bushmen  use  a  pointed  stick, 
which  is  weighted  with  a  stone  ring.  These 
few  simple  weapons  and  tools  are  all  that  these 
poor  people  possess,  except  a  few  wooden  dishes 
and  a  smoking  pipe,  which  is  said  to  be  owned 
by  a  whole  family  or  band. 

Livingstone  says  that  their  arrow  poison  comes 
from  a  sort  of  caterpillar  or  grub,  which  they 
crush  and  dip  the  arrow  tip  into.  They  always 
clean  their  nails  carefully  after  handling  the  poison, 
as  it  causes  damage  if  it  comes  into  contact  with 


BUSHMEN   AND   HOTTENTOTS. 


145 


any  scratch  or  cut.  The  pain  caused  by  the 
poison  is  so  great  as  almost  to  make  the  man 
who  has  been  wounded  crazy.  When  a  lion  has 
been  struck  with  one  of  these  poisoned  arrows  he 
roars  terribly  and  bites  and  tears  the  ground  and 
trees.  To  cure 
a  person  who 
has  been  bitten 
they  use  an  oint- 
ment made  of 
the  crushed  cat- 
erpillar mixed 
with  grease. 
They  believe 
that  the  cater- 
pillar is  hungry 
for  grease;  when 
it  does  not  find 

fat    in    a    person  GORA-PLAYER:  BUSHMAN  (RATZEL). 

it      kills      him ; 

when  they  supply  it  the  fat  it  wants,  it  does  no 
harm.  It  is  said  that  this  caterpillar  is  sacred 
and  that  they  pray  to  it,  asking  it  to  give  them 
plenty  of  game  when  they  are  hunting. 

These  little  people  are  fond  of  music  and 
drawing.  Their  finest  musical  instrument  is  a 
gora.  This  is  a  hunter's  bow,  with  a  ring  on 


146  STRANGE   PEOPLES. 

the  bow  string.  By  sliding  this  ring  they  change 
the  note  which  it  gives  when  twanged.  The 
twang  of  a  bowstring  is  not  a  very  loud  sound ; 
to  increase  it  a  gourd  is  hung  to  the  lower  end 
of  the  bow.  All  over  the  country  of  the  Bush- 
men cliffs  and  the  walls  of  caves  are  covered  with 
their  pictures,  which  represent  animals,  birds,  and 
men ;  hunting  scenes  and  battles  are  also  rep- 
resented. These  pictures  are  sometimes  just 
pecked  out  in  the  rock;  sometimes  they  are 
painted ;  sometimes  they  are  first  pecked  out  and 
then  filled  with  color.  The  colors  most  used  in 
these  pictures  are  red,  yellow,  and  black. 

The  negroid  Kaffirs  and  the  Hottentots  who 
live  near  the  poor  Bushmen  hate  them  and  harm 
them.  Meeting  them  on  the  road,  they  some- 
times kill  them  without  pity.  In  1804  a  Kaffir 
who  went  to  Cape  Town  on  business  found  a 
Bushman  boy  eleven  years  old  working  as  a  ser- 
vant in  the  government  building.  He  killed  the 
little  fellow  with  a  spear.  This,  of  course,  was 
long  ago,  but  it  shows  how  the  Kaffirs  despise 
the  Bushmen. 

The  Hottentots  live  near  the  Bushmen  and  are 
a  mixture  between  them  and  the  negroids.  They 
are  taller  than  the  Bushmen,  but  have  much  the 
same  yellowish  brown  skin  color  and  the  same 


BUSHMEN   AND   HOTTENTOTS.  147 

sort  of  hair.  Their  language,  too,  is  much  like 
that  of  the  Bushmen.  In  both  languages  there 
are  some  strange  sounds,  hard  for  white  men  to 
pronounce,  called  "  clicks."  These  sounds  come 
in  the  middle  of  words,  and  are  called  "  clicks  " 
because  they  sound  something  like  the  sound 


BUSHMAN    ROCK    PICTURE    (RATZEL). 

made  in  driving  horses.  Among  the  Bushmen 
there  are  nine  different  sounds  of  this  kind ;  the 
Hottentots  have  only  four. 

The  Hottentots  are  cattle-raisers,  but  do  not 
cultivate  plants.  They  gather  wild  fruits  and 
dig  roots.  They  move  with  their  herds  from 
one  pasture  to  another;  their  settlements  are 


148  STRANGE   PEOPLES. 

called  kraals.  Their  huts  are  dome-shaped  and 
consist  of  a  light  framework  of  poles  over  which 
mattings  are  hung.  When  they  move  it  takes 
only  a  few  minutes  to  take  the  houses  to  pieces 
and  pack  them  on  to  their  cattle.  The  huts  are 
always  set  up  in  a  circle,  enclosing  a  clear  space 
where  the  cattle  are  herded. 

Both  men  and  women  of  the  Hottentots  wear 
fur  caps,  and  it  is  considered  indecent  for  a 
woman  to  be  seen  with  her  head  bare.  Hotten- 
tot clothing  consists  of  leather  aprons  and  cloaks. 
Hottentots  rarely  kill  their  cattle,  which  they 
keep  for  milk  rather  than  for  meat. 

They  are  quite  warlike,  and  each  tribe  has  a 
leader.  They  honor  brave  warriors.  They  are 
gay  in  disposition  and  like  to  say  sharp  and  funny 
things  about  each  other;  this  often  leads  to  quarrels 
and  fights.  When  a  man  is  angry  with  another, 
he  takes  a  handful  of  dust  and  offers  it  to  him ;  if 
the  offender  is  willing  to  fight,  he  seizes  the  hand 
and  scatters  the  dust  on  the  ground  ;  if  he  refuses 
to  fight,  the  angry  man  throws  the  dust  upon  him 
to  show  that  he  is  a  coward.  In  fighting  to  settle 
quarrels,  they  kick  and  club  each  other  and  even 
use  spears. 

The  Hottentots  have  many  songs  and  prayers 
which  they  repeat  to,  or  about,  their  sacred  beings. 


BUSHMEN   AND    HOTTENTOTS. 


149 


Among  their  stones  are  some  about  the  rabbit  and 
his  adventures.  They  worship  the  stars  which  we 
call  the  Pleiades.  When  these  stars  rise  for  the 
first  time  in  the  year,  the  people  greet  them. 
Mothers  take  their  babies  in  their  arms  and  teach 
them  to  stretch  out  their  little  hands  toward  the 


HOTTENTOT    KRAAL    (RATZEL). 

friendly  stars.  They  then  have  a  dance  and  sing 
a  song  in  honor  of  one  of  their  gods.  There  is 
a  large  insect  called  the  mantis,  which,  when  it 
stands  still,  raises  its  long  front  legs  into  a  curious 
position ;  the  Hottentots  think  that  it  is  praying. 
When  a  praying  mantis  appears  in  a  kraal  every 
one  is  pleased,  as  they  think  it  brings  good  luck. 


150  STRANGE   PEOPLES. 

No  one  thinks  of  killing  it,  and  they  make  an 
offering  to  it. 

When  a  Hottentot  man  goes  hunting,  his  wife 
kindles  a  fire  at  home  and  does  nothing  while 

O 

he  is  gone  but  carefully  tend  it.  They  believe  if 
she  lets  it  go  out  that  he  will  fail  in  his  hunting. 
Hottentot  conjurers  are  thought  to  be  great  snake- 
charmers.  It  is  said  that  they  can  hiss  in  such 
a  way  that  all  the  snakes  in  the  district  will  be 
attracted  to  them.  So  much  are  these  conjurers 
feared  that  every  one  wears  some  object  about  him 
to  protect  himself  against  their  power. 

XXVII. 

MALAYS. 

THE  Malays  live  in  the  Malay  Peninsula,  on  the 
great  islands  near  it, —  Sumatra,  Borneo,  and  Java, 
—  and  on  a  host  of  lesser  islands  in  that  part  of 
the  world.  They  also  form  part  of  the  population 
of  the  great  island,  Madagascar,  lying  east  of  Africa. 

They  are  short,  with  brown  skin,  dark  eyes, 
straight  and  coarse  black  hair,  and  broad,  round 
heads.  Their  forms  are  slight  and  graceful.  They 
are  active  and  gay,  quick  and  intelligent ;  they  are 
easily  offended,  do  not  readily  forgive  injuries,  and 
are  often  deceitful  and  treacherous. 


MALAYS.         .  151 

The  Malays  are  believed  to  have  come  from  the 
continent  of  Asia  not  more  than  three  thousand 
years  ago. 

They  are  fairly  industrious  in  working  their 
fields,  the  most  important  crop  from  which  is  rice. 
They  have  other  crops,  however,  and  also  raise 
many  fruits.  They  use  the  buffalo  as  a  help  in 
field  work  and  for  drawing  carts.  Those  Malays 
who  live  near  the  coast  fish,  and  use  both  fresh 
and  salted  fish  for  food.  They  are  good  sailors, 
making  journeys  by  water  to  China,  Australia 
and  other  islands.  They  are  shrewd  in  trading. 
Formerly,  many  Malays  were  bold  pirates,  as  in- 
deed in  some  parts  they  still  are. 

Malay  houses  are  usually  built  of  boards,  are 
rectangular  in  form,  and  have  a  two-pitched  roof. 
They  are  almost  everywhere,  set  up  on  posts  quite 
high  above  ground,  and  must  be  reached  by  means 
of  ladders. 

The  Malays  are  great  chewers  of  betel  nut.  A 
piece  of  the  nut  is  mixed  with  a  little  lime,  placed 
in  a  leaf,  and  chewed.  It  colors  the  saliva  red 
and  stains  the  teeth  a  brownish  black.  So  used 
are  the  Malays  to  these  stained  teeth  that  they  no 
longer  admire  white  teeth.  Of  a  man  whose  teeth 
are  not  stained  with  betel  they  will  say,  "  he  has 
teeth  like  a  dog,"  and  seem  to  consider  it  a  dis- 


152 


STRANGE   PEOPLES. 


grace.  They  even  chip  off  or  file  away  the 
enamel  on  the  front  of  the  teeth  of  children  so 
that  they  may  become  sooner  blackened. 

All   Malays   like    amusement ;  even    the    most 
civilized  celebrate  many  festivals.     Animal  fights 


MALAY  FAMILY:    JAVA  (VERNEAU). 

and  theatrical  performances  are  favorites.  Almost 
every  man  among  the  Malays  keeps  a  fighting 
cock  of  which  he  is  proud  and  fond ;  while  he 
works  in  his  field,  the  bird  is  tied  by  a  cord  to  a 
stake  near  him,  and  he  stops  now  and  again  to 


MALAYS.  153 

stroke  and  pet  him.  Cock-fights  take  place  fre- 
quently, but  the  birds  are  not  allowed  —  as  in 
Mexico  —  to  kill  each  other.  The  bull-fights  in 
the  Malay  region  are  also  much  less  cruel  than 
those  of  Mexico  and  Spain.  In  these  countries 
the  bull  is  made  to  fight  against  a  trained  com- 
pany of  human  fighters ;  among  the  Malays  he 
fights  another  animal  of  his  own  kind.  The  Ma- 
lay buffalo-tiger  fight  is  famous.  A  buffalo  and 
tiger  are  placed  in  a  pen  together  and  then  excited 
until  they  attack  each  other.  The  buffalo  is  quite 
frequently  the  victor.  Most  curious,  however,  is 
the  battle  between  crickets.  The  contest  between 
these  insects  is  watched  with  great  interest  and 
excitement  by  the  Malays.  It  occurs  also  in 
Japan. 

Malays  delight  in  dances  and  the  theatre.  At  the 
World's  Columbian  Exposition  in  Chicago  there 
was  a  complete  Javanese  village.  It  contained  a 
dance  house  where  dances  were  given  to  the  sound 
of  the  strange  gongs  and  other  musical  instru- 
ments of  the  Javan  people.  The  dancing  was  by 
girls  who  were  gayly  dressed  in  velvet,  silk,  and 
satin  with  gold  and  silver  tinsel.  They  wore  cu- 
rious gilt  helmets.  They  did  not  dance  with  their 
feet,  but  kept  time  to  the  music  by  graceful  move- 
ments of  the  arms,  hands,  head,  and  eyes.  In  the 


1 54  STRANGE   PEOPLES. 

same  building  they  gave  plays,  in  which  the  play- 
ers wore  small  and  curious  masks  of  wood.  In 
other  plays,  somewhat  like  our  Punch  and  Judy, 
puppets  were  moved  and  played  the  parts.  The 
Javanese  also  have  shadow  plays,  where  jointed 


BUFFALO  CART:    JAVA  (RATZEL). 

human  figures,  cut  from  cardboard,  are  moved  by 
sticks  and  their  shadows  are  thrown  upon  a  screen. 
"  Running  amuck  "  is  fearfully  common  among 
Malays.  Suddenly  a  man,  on  the  street  or  in 
some  public  place,  becomes  insane  with  a  desire 
to  kill.  Seizing  a  weapon,  he  starts  down  a  street 
filled  with  people  and  strikes  right  and  left  at 


MALAYS.  155 

every  one  as  he  runs.  The  police  hurry  after  the 
murderer  and  are  usually  compelled  to  kill  him 
before  his  dreadful  work  can  be  stopped.  The 
Malays  are  really  a  nervous  and  excitable  people  ; 
it  is  said  that  frequently  a  steady  look  at  a  person 
will  throw  him  into  a  trance  or  hypnotized  state. 
Of  the  various  weapons  used  by  the  Malays 
the  kris  seems  to  be  the  favorite.  In  Java  this 
was  often  a  remarkable  object.  A  kris  is  a  short 


KRISES:    JAVA  (RATZEL). 

sword  or  dagger  with  a  fine  steel  blade  which 
ends  in  a  point,  and  the  sides  of  which  are  wavy 
instead  of  straight.  Probably  they  think  of  this 
as  a  stinging  serpent ;  anyway  the  handle  is  fre- 
quently in  the  form  of  a  serpent's  head.  Some- 
times this  handle  is  finely  carved  and  often  it  is 
set  with  gems.  Some  that  belonged  to  the  old 
Javan  princes  were  a  mass  of  precious  stones. 
The  sheath  for  the  kris  might  be  plain,  but  it 


156  STRANGE   PEOPLES. 

might  also  be  decorated  with  carvings  or  encrusted 
with  jewels. 

Strangest  of  the  Malays  are  the  Dyaks  of  Bor- 
neo and  the  Battaks  of  Sumatra.  Both  are  a 
little  larger  and  have  longer  heads  than  the  Java- 
nese. The  Dyaks  are  great  "  head  hunters."  No 
man  is  respected  until  he  has  brought  in  a  head 
as  a  trophy.  Usually  only  the  skull  is  kept ; 
sometimes  this  will  be  engraved  with  patterns  or 
stained  with  coloring  matter;  sometimes  designs 
are  cut  in  the  bone  and  foil  is  set  in  the  patterns. 
The  Battaks  are  industrious  and  have  made  prog- 
ress in  many  ways.  They  have  a  system  of 
writing.  Inscriptions  are  usually  carved  upon 
staves  of  bamboo;  they  also  have  books  made 
of  strips  of  palm  or  other  vegetable  substances. 
The  Battaks  are  among  the  most  dreadful  of 
cannibals. 

XXVIII. 

THE  PEOPLES  OF  THE  PHILIPPINES. 

THE  Philippine  Islands  lie  northeast  from  the 
great  Malay  Islands.  The  group  extends  for  one 
thousand  miles  and  includes  almost  two  thousand 
islands  of  sizes  from  barren  rock  masses  too  small 
for  use  up  to  the  great  Island  of  Luzon,  which  is 
about  the  size  of  Ohio.  All  together  the  islands 


THE   PEOPLES   OF  THE   PHILIPPINES.  157 

have  an  area  equal  to  that  of  New  York  and  the 
New  England  States  united.  It  is  uncertain  how 
large  a  population  occupy  the  islands,  but  it  is 
probably  between  seven  and  eight  million. 

Dr.  Blumentritt,  an  Austrian  who  has  studied 
the  Philippine  peoples  for  many  years,  says  that 
fifty-one  different  languages  are  spoken  among 
them.  He  thinks  that  the  peoples  have  come  at 
various  times  to  the  islands  from  various  places. 
He  believes  that  the  first  people  here  were  the 
negritos  and  that  they  once  occupied  the  whole 
region.  Perhaps  three  thousand  years  ago  Malay 
tribes,  a  good  deal  like  the  Dyaks  of  Borneo, 
crowded  in  upon  the  unfortunate  little  natives, 
seizing  their  land  and  driving  them  into  the 
mountains  of  the  interior  and  to  the  more  remote 
parts  of  the  coast.  Later,  from  eighteen  hundred 
to  fourteen  hundred  years  ago,  other  Malays 
crowded  in,  but  this  time  they  were  more  like 
those  of  Java.  Much  later,  only  about  five  hun- 
dred years  ago,  a  third  lot  of  Malays,  bold  and 
hardy  seamen,  began  a  movement  into  the  islands. 
But  just  then  the  Spaniards  discovered  the  Phil- 
ippines and  checked  these  pirates  before  they  had 
gained  much  of  a  foothold.  Blumentritt  speaks 
of  these  invasions  of  Malays  as  the  first,  second, 
and  third  Malay  migrations. 


158 


STRANGE   PEOPLES. 


The  negritos,  or  old  population,  are  a  little 
people  much  like  the  Mincopies  of  the  Anda- 
man Islands.  They  are  short,  black  skinned,  and 
crinkly  haired.  They  do  not  live  to  be  old,  but  a 
person  of  thirty  or  forty  looks  as  if  much  older. 

They  build  no  true 
houses;  in  bad  weather 
they  put  up  rude  shel- 
ters. They  are  wan- 
derers and  have  no 
agriculture;  they  make 
no  pottery;  they  wear 
but  little  clothing ; 
some  scar  or  tattoo ; 
they  are  fond  of  orna- 
ments. Their  chief 
weapon  is  the  bow  and 
arrow,  though  they 
also  have  spears. 
They  are  skilful  in 
throwing  stones. 
They  make  fire  by 

friction,  sawing  one  sharp  piece  of  bamboo  across 
another.  If  a  negrito  dies,  his  fellows  believe  he 
was  bewitched  by  some  Tagal  or  other  Malay, 
and  will  not  be  satisfied  until  one  has  been  killed 
in  revenge.  When  two  negritos  wish  to  swear 


PHILIPPINE   NEGRITO    (MEYER). 


THE   PEOPLES  OF  THE   PHILIPPINES.  159 

friendship,  they  cut  their  arms  and  each  sucks 
blood  from  the  other ;  they  thus  become  of  one 
blood  and  are  like  brothers.  They  used  to  send 
messages  by  knotting  grass  which  either  had  a 
meaning  itself  or  helped  the  person  who  carried 
it  to  remember  what  he  had  been  told.  There 
are  now  perhaps  twenty  thousand  negritos  and 
they  live  mostly  on  the  larger  islands  —  Luzon, 
Mindanao,  and  Negros. 

Many  tribes  in  the  Philippines  represent  the 
first  Malay  invasion.  They  are  much  alike  in 
life  and  character;  all  are  bold  and  cruel;  most 
of  them  are  head-hunters.  They  depend,  in  part, 
on  agriculture,  and  have  settled  villages  which 
are  usually  in  the  mountains  or  forests.  The 
Igorrotes  are  a  good  example  of  them.  They 
live  in  North  Luzon.  Both  men  and  women 
tattoo ;  they  gild  their  teeth  and  are  fond  of 
ornaments.  The  men  go  armed  with  spears, 
bows  and  arrows,  and  knives.  Their  peculiar 
weapon,  however,  is  a  hatchet-knife  called  ligua  ; 
the  thin  broad  blade,  set  like  that  of  a  hatchet, 
has  a  concave  cutting  edge  which  runs  into  a 
long  point  above.  The  houses  of  the  Igorrotes 
are  large,  rectangular,  and  raised  on  piles.  These 
people  are  good  agriculturists,  tending  their 
fields  —  which  they  irrigate  —  with  care.  The 


THE   PEOPLES   OF  THE   PHILIPPINES.  l6l 

girls  of  the  village  are  in  charge  of  an  old  woman, 
and  they  all  live  and  sleep  together  in  one  special 
house ;  this  is  unlike  the  other  houses  of  the 
village  and  is  not  set  up  on  posts.  The  Igor- 
rotes  have  much  respect  for  the  souls  of  their 
ancestors.  In  each  village  there  is  a  sacred  tree 
in  which  they  believe  these  souls  abide.  Though 
industrious  and  settled  the  Igorrotes  are  dread- 
ful head-hunters.  They  organize  war-parties  to 
attack  neighboring  tribes  for  victims.  The  party 
shown  in  the  picture  were  on  such  an  errand. 
Only  a  few  days  after  the  photograph  was  taken 
they  fell  upon  a  Tingian  village,  killed  thirty-nine 
persons,  and  carried  away  twenty-five  heads  as 
trophies. 

The  Tagals,  one  of  the  tribes  of  the  second 
invasion,  are  the  most  important  of  the  Philip- 
pine peoples.  They  industriously  work  their 
fields  and  raise  rice,  yams,  maize,  and  several 
fleshy-root  plants.  Of  fruits  they  cultivate  man- 
goes, bananas,  pineapples,  cocoanuts,  and  others. 
Of  industrial  plants  they  produce  manila  hemp, 
cotton,  indigo,  and  tobacco.  Many  of  these 
plants  they  have  only  had  since  the  coming  of 
the  Spaniards.  They  have  long  had  domestic 
animals,  among  them  the  buffalo,  pig,  dog,  hens, 
and  ducks.  The  Tagals  have  towns  of  consider- 


1 62 


STRANGE  PEOPLES. 


able  size,  with  well-built  houses  perched  on  posts. 
They  are  well  dressed  in  good  cloth  woven  by 
the  women.  They  are  fond  of  gain  and  good 
traders.  They  are  active  in  body  and  mind. 
They  delight  in  poetry,  and  it  is  said  "  boys  on 
the  street  will  improvise  by  the  yard."  The 
Tagals  write  their  language  with  an  alphabet 


HEAD-HUNTING   PARTY:     IGORROTES    (MEYER). 

which  was  probably  brought  from  India  long  ago. 
They  formerly  wrote  on  bamboo  or  on  the  bark 
of  certain  trees.  The  Tagals  are  passionately 
fond  of  cock-fighting.  Every  one  chews  betel 
nut. 

As  to  the  third  migration,  it  failed  to  reach  the 
great  island  of  Luzon.  The  immigrants  were 
Mohammedan  Malays  from  Borneo.  They  were 


MELANESIANS.  163 

sea-rovers  and  pirates.  They  gained  possession 
of  the  Sulu  Islands,  the  farthest  to  the  southwest 
of  the  Philippines,  and  had  landed  on  Mindanao 
when  the  arrival  of  the  Spaniards  put  an  end  to" 
their  movements.  They  are  usually  called  Moros 
or  Moors,  from  their  religion.  They  are  polyga- 
mous and  keep  slaves.  Their  ruler  is  called  the 
Sultan  of  Sulu. 

Such  are  the  people  of  the  Philippines:  at 
least  fifty-one  tribes,  speaking  as  many  different 
languages.  But  there  are  also  many  foreigners 
there :  thousands  of  Japanese  and  Chinese ;  de- 
scendants of  American  Indians,  brought  by  the 
old  Spaniards  from  Mexico  and  Peru ;  Spaniards 
and  other  whites.  And  lastly  there  are  all  sorts 
of  mestizos,  or  mixed  persons,  produced  by  the  in- 
termarriage of  all  these  so  many  different  stocks 
—  native  and  foreign. 

XXIX. 

MELANESIANS. 

SEVERAL  great  groups  of  people  occupy  the 
vast  island  world  of  the  Pacific.  We  have  already 
spoken  of  the  Malays.  In  Australia  live  many 
tribes  differing  in  language  and  customs.  They 
are  mostly  dark  brown  with  bushy  or  curly  hair. 


1 64  STRANGE   PEOPLES. 

They  are  savages  in  culture.  South  of  Australia, 
in  Van  Diemen's  Land,  or  Tasmania,  there  for- 
merly lived  a  dark  brown  people,  not  tall  in  stature, 
with  peculiar  features  and  long  curly  hair;  they 
are  now  all  gone.  North  of  Australia,  in  Papua 
or  New  Guinea,  are  many  tribes  with  curious  and 
interesting  arts  and  customs.  The  real  Papuans 
are  dark  brown  in  color  and  have  woolly  hair, 
which,  like  that  of  the  Bushmen,  seems  to  grow 
in  tufts  with  bare  spaces  between.  They  are  of 
medium  stature.  The  islands  to  the  east  and 
south  of  Australia  and  New  Guinea  are  occupied 
by  black,  woolly-haired  tribes,  who  are  called 
Melanesians,  and  who  are  related  to  the  Papuans. 
Among  them  are  the  natives  of  Fiji,  New  Britain, 
New  Ireland,  and  the  Solomon  Islands. 

The  Fijians  of  fifty  years  ago  will  well  repre- 
sent the  Melanesians.  Thomas  Williams,  Fiji 
and  the  Fijians,  will  give  us  our  facts. 

The  Fijian  hair-dressing  was  striking.  Each 
chief  had  a  special  hair-dresser,  who  frequently 
spent  several  hours  a  day  in  arranging  his 
master's  hair.  The  hairs  were  trained  to  stand 
out  from  the  head  so  as  to  form  a  great  mass 
that  might  be  trimmed  into  curious  shapes.  This 
smooth,  soft,  solid,  cushion-like  mass  of  hair  was 
stained  with  colors  —  jet  black  naturally,  it  might 


MELANESIANS. 


I65 


be  blue-black,  ashy  white,  or  shades  of  red.  The 
whole  mass  of  hair,  except  a  band  in  front,  might 
be  black,  while  that  was  white ;  sometimes  the  hair 
behind  was  twisted  into  cords  ending  with  tassels; 
one  man  had  a  knot  of  fiery  red  hair  on  the 
crown  while  the  rest  of 
his  head  was  shaved ; 
sometimes  the  hair 
mass  measured  four 
feet  or  more  in  cir- 
cumference. Such 
grand  hair-dressing 
would  be  ruined  by 
lying  down  with  the 
head  on  the  ground  — 
so  the  Fijians  had  a 
wooden  head-rest  or 
pillow,  which  was  set 
under  the  neck  and 
held  the  head  up,  off 
the  ground. 

Men  wore  a  long  sash  of  bark  cloth,  which  was 
anywhere  from  three  to  one  hundred  yards  long. 
This  was  passed  between  the  legs  and  wound 
around  the  waist  any  number  of  times;  if  it  were 
long  and  the  man  wanted  to  present  ^fuie  appear- 
ance it  was  folded  several  times  up  against  the 


FIJIAN  (RATZEL). 


1 66  STRANGE   PEOPLES. 

upper  part  of  his  body ;  the  ends  were  allowed 
to  trail  behind.  The  men  wore  a  turban  of  the 
same  material,  but  fine  and  gauzy ;  from  four  to 
six  feet  long,  it  was  wrapped  around  the  head, 
several  times  if  need  be ;  if  the  hair  mass  was 
large,  however,  it  would  go  little  more  than  once. 
Women  wore  little  but  a  fringed  waist  band,  which 
hung  to  the  knees. 

Like  the  Polynesians,  from  whom  they  probably 
learned  it,  the  Fijians  used  much  kava,  a  drink 
which  produces  a  stupefied  or  intoxicated  condi- 
tion. The  preparation  of  kava  for  the  king  was 
a  great  occasion.  The  great  kava  bowl,  made  of 
wood  carefully  polished,  was  placed  upon  the 
ground.  The  guests  seated  themselves  around 
it.  A  number  of  young  men  took  pieces  of  the 
root  from  which  the  drink  was  to  be  made  and 
chewed  them  well  in  their  mouths ;  they  stacked 
up  the  pellets  in  the  dish ;  water  was  poured  in 
until  the  bowl  was  nearly  full  and  the  balls  of 
chewed  root  were  well  stirred  about  and  squeezed 
in  it.  Then  a  man,  especially  trained  to  the  work, 
strained  them  out  with  a  bunch  of  fibre,  in  which, 
by  twisting,  he  squeezed  the  pellets  until  no  more 
juice  or  water  ran  out.  The  liquid  was  now  ready 
for  drinking.  Prayer  and  song  had  accompanied 
the  making  of  the  kava.  The  king,  receiving  a 


1 68 


STRANGE   PEOPLES. 


cupful  from  a  servant,  spilled  a  little  to  the  gods, 
and  then  drank.  The  others  then  drank  in  their 
order.  It  was  a  high  honor  to  drink  next  after 
the  king. 

The  Fijians  carved  neat  bowls  and  other  vessels 
from  wood.    The  kava  bowls,  though  usually  plain, 


CANOE:    NEW  GUINEA  (RATZEL). 

were  carefully  cut  and  beautifully  polished.  The 
Fijians — almost  alone  of  Pacific  Islanders — made 
pottery;  the  vessels  were  in  various  strange  though 
rather  graceful  forms,  and  were  somewhat  glazed. 
They  made  remarkable  war  clubs  of  fine,  heavy, 
dark  woods  which  varied  much  in  form,  were 
decorated  with  carving,  and  were  handsomely 


MELANESIANS.  169 

polished.  Fijians  were  not  good  sailors,  but  they 
made  better  canoes  than  some  of  those  made  by 
Polynesians,  who  were  bold  sailors.  It  is  said 
that  the  Tongans  (Polynesians)  gave  up  their 
own  style  of  canoe  to  adopt  that  of  the  Fijians. 
The  canoes  were,  like  those  of  many  of  the  Pacific 
Islands,  double  canoes ;  two  canoes  of  the  same 
shape  and  size  were  placed  side  by  side  —  with 
some  little  space  between — and  united  by  a  plat- 
form of  boards ;  one  sail  was  sometimes  hoisted ; 
paddles  were  used  for  sculling  and  a  great  steer- 
ing oar  was  employed.  A  much  larger  book  than 
this  would  be  needed  for  describing  all  the  craft 
used  on  the  water  by  Malayans,  Melanesians,  and 
Polynesians.  The  Fijians  enjoyed  music  and  had 
two  or  three  kinds  of  drums,  sticks  that  were 
beaten  together,  pan-pipes,  a  bamboo  jew's-harp, 
a  conch-shell  trumpet,  and  a  little  flute  that  was 
blown  by  the  nose. 

The  Fijians  were  a  polite  people  —  that  is,  they 
had  rules  about  greetings,  behavior,  and  the  treat- 
ment of  superiors.  One  curious  rule  was  that  a 
servant  or  inferior,  in  case  his  master  fell  or  got 
into  some  ridiculous  position,  must  also  fall  or 
place  himself  in  a  similar  ridiculous  position. 
Afterward  it  was  expected  that  he  would  be 
rewarded  for  his  politeness.  Mr.  Williams 


I/O  STRANGE   PEOPLES. 

tells  us  an  incident  that  illustrates  this  prac- 
tice :  — 

"  One  day  I  came  to  a  long  bridge  formed  of  a 
single  cocoanut  tree,  which  was  thrown  across  a 
rapid  stream,  the  opposite  bank  of  which  was  two 
or  three  feet  lower,  so  that  the  declivity  was  too 
steep  to  be  comfortable.  The  pole  was  also  wet 
and  slippery,  and  thus  my  crossing  safely  was  very 
doubtful.  Just  as  I  commenced  the  experiment 
a  heathen  said,  with  much  animation,  '  To-day  I 
shall  have  a  musket.'  I  had,  however,  just  then 
to  heed  my  steps  more  than  his  words,  and  so  suc- 
ceeded in  reaching  the  other  side  safely.  When 
I  asked  him  why  he  spoke  of  a  musket,  the  man 
replied,  '  I  felt  certain  you  would  fall  in  attempt- 
ing to  go  over,  and  I  should  have  fallen  after  you ; 
and,  as  the  bridge  is  high,  the  water  rapid,  and 
you  a  gentleman,  you  would  not  have  thought  of 
giving  me  less  than  a  musket." 

The  tabu  is  one  of  the  most  curious  habits  of 
Pacific  Islanders.  Though  it  occurred  in  Fiji,  it 
was  Polynesian,  rather  than  Melanesian.  Tabu 
was  forbidding  persons  to  touch,  or  use,  or  make 
some  object.  Chiefs  and  priests  set  most  of  the 
tabus,  but  lesser  people  might  sometimes  do  so. 
A  man  might  tabu  all  the  cocoanuts  in  a  district, 
setting  up  some  sign  or  mark  to  show  that  he  had 


MELANESIANS.  17! 

done  so ;  no  one  might  thereafter  touch  a  nut 
there  until  the  tabu  had  been  removed.  A  chief 
might  tabu  a  man's  working;  he  could  not  do 
work  of  any  kind  until  the  chief  removed  the  tabu. 
A  chief  might  tabu  the  building  of  canoes  by  the 
people  of  a  certain  village ;  the  people  thenceforth 
would  need  to  secure  canoes  from  others.  Thou- 
sands of  tabus  were  set,  and  they  made  much 
trouble  and  inconvenience.  The  man  who  broke 
a  tabu  was  punished,  sometimes  by  death. 

The  Fijians  were  dreadful  cannibals.  England 
governed  Fiji  for  many  years,  and  it  was  believed 
that  the  practice  had  disappeared.  A  few  old  men 
were  considered  almost  as  curiosities  because  they 
had  eaten  flesh  of  men  and  were  called  "the  last 
of  the  cannibals."  Then  suddenly  in  1889  the 
old  custom  broke  out  again.  A  party  of  Fijians 
killed  some  victims  and  ate  them  in  a  cave.  A 
party  in  pursuit  found  evidence  of  the  dreadful 
feast.  Among  these  were  some  of  the  curious 
wooden  forks  used  because  it  was  not  proper  that 
the  flesh  should  be  touched  with  the  fingers! 


1/2  STRANGE   PEOPLES. 

XXX. 

\ 

POLYNESIANS. 

THE  Pacific  Islands  lying  east  from  the  Mela- 
nesian  Islands,  beginning  with  New  Zealand  and 
stretching  to  Easter  Island,  were  occupied  by  Poly- 
nesians. The  best  known  of  their  island  groups 
were  New  Zealand,  the  Society  Islands,  Samoa, 
and  the  Hawaiian  Islands.  These  islands  are 
either  volcanic  islands  or  coral  islands,  and  the 
natural  animal  and  vegetable  life  occurring  on 
them  is  less  varied  than  on  the  great  islands  lying 
nearer  to  the  Asiatic  or  Australian  continents. 

The  Polynesians  present  a  fine  type.  They 
are  often  tall  and  well  built ;  their  skins,  though 
brown,  are  frequently  light ;  the  features  are 
regular  and  the  faces  handsome.  They  are 
quick  and  intelligent,  think  and  reason  well,  take 
new  ideas  readily,  and  are  fond  of  beauty.  They 
were  barbarians,  but  had  made  so  much  progress 
that  they  were  at  the  border-line  of  civilization. 
Living  in  a  mass  of  islands  that  presented  few 
natural  resources,  they  had  made  the  most  of 
everything  nature  gave  them. 

Many  Polynesian  tribes  tattoo.  Elaborate 
patterns  are  pricked  into  the  skin,  with  lines  of 
needles  set  side  by  side  and  dipped  in  color. 


POLYNESIANS. 


173 


The  New  Zealanders  tattooed  their  faces  with 
curious  curved-line  patterns,  each  line  had  its 
proper  place,  and  the  patterns  probably  had  a 


TATTOOED   NEW   ZEALANDER    (VERNEAU). 

meaning.  The  Marquesas  Islanders  covered 
their  bodies  with  elaborate  and  graceful  patterns. 
The  process  was  painful  and  only  a  small  space 


1/4  STRANGE   PEOPLES. 

was  done  at  one  time ;  the  whole  work  required 
years. 

Polynesian  dress  differed  somewhat  with  the 
region.  In  New  Zealand  fine,  soft,  and  flexible 
robes  and  blankets  were  woven  of  the  native  flax. 
In  Hawaii  the  king  and  chiefs  had  wonderful 
feather  cloaks  which  hung  to  the  knees  or  even 
to  the  ankles.  The  little  feathers  of  which  these 
were  composed  were  red  and  yellow ;  a  garment 
composed  only  of  yellow  feathers  could  be  worn 
only  by  the  king ;  when  both  colors  of  feathers 
were  used,  they  were  arranged  in  diamond-shaped 
or  other  ornamental  forms,  with  spots  and  lines 
of  dark  purple  or  black  feathers.  Besides  the 
cloaks,  there  were  tippets  of  feathers,  which  were 
generally  worn  by  lower  chiefs,  who  had  not,  or 
might  not  have,  feather  cloaks.  In  these  feather 
garments  the  dress  was  made  of  a  sort  of  netted 
foundation,  into  which  these  bright  feathers  were 
worked.  Chiefs  also  had  wonderful  helmets  of 
wickerwork  which  were  covered  with  feathers. 
The  helmet  might  be  simple,  just  fitting  the 
head,  or  large,  ridged,  or  crested,  and  rising  high 
above  the  head.  In  some  islands  the  clothing 
consisted  of  a  fringed  girdle  hanging  from  the 
waist  to  the  knees. 

But   everywhere    in     Polynesia    the    common 


POLYNESIANS. 


175 


dress  was  made  of  tapa.  This  was  a  kind  of 
paper  or  cloth  beaten  out  of  the  bark  of  certain 
trees.  The  bark  was  removed  from  the  tree  and 
soaked  in  water;  it  was  laid  upon  a  large  piece 
of  wood  and  beaten  with  a  sort  of  club  or  mallet. 
This  was  made  of  hard  wood  and  was  round  at 
one  end  for  being 
taken  in  the  hand ; 
the  remainder  was 
squared,  and  the  four 
faces  were  either 
smooth  or  ribbed  by 
longitudinal  grooves. 
By  this  beating  the 
wood  was  separated 
into  its  fibres,  and 
these  were  mashed  to- 
gether into  a  sheet  of 
firm  paper  or  cloth. 
This  tapa  differs  with 
the  tree  from  the  bark 
of  which  it  is  made. 
Some  is  thin  and  dark  brown;  that  from  the 
bark  of  the  breadfruit  tree  is  fawn-colored ;  that 
from  the  paper-mulberry,  best  and  finest  of  all, 
is  beautifully  white.  The  women  were  so  expert 
at  beating  tapa  that  single  strips,  four  yards 


HELMETS  AND  IDOL-HEADS   OF   FEATH- 
ERS :  HAWAII  (RATZEL). 


1/6  STRANGE   PEOPLES. 

wide  and  two  hundred  yards  long,  were  beaten. 
Such  cloth  might  be  left  plain,  or  it  might 
be .  stained  with  colors,  or  it  might  be  stamped 
with  patterns.  Wooden  blocks  or  strips  of 
bamboo  were  carved  with  designs  which  were 
smeared  with  color  and  stamped  on  the  cloth ; 
sometimes  ferns  were  laid  in  coloring  matter, 
then  the  form  transferred  to  the  tapa. 

The  two  chief  food  supplies  in  Polynesia  were 
breadfruit  and  cocoanutsj  yams  (much  like  sweet 
potatoes)  and  bananas  were  plenty.  A  favorite 
food  in  places  is  poi,  a  sort  of  gruel  or  pudding 
made  from  the  root  of  faro.  It  was  not  eaten 
with  a  spoon,  but  the  finger  was  dipped  into  it 
and  stirred  around  to  get  a  good  load  of  the 
sticky  stuff  on  it,  when  it  was  stuck  into  the 
mouth  and  sucked  clean.  Fish  were  much 
eaten,  though  not  all  kinds  nor  at  all  times. 

The  Polynesian  oven  was  a  hole,  three  or 
four  feet  across,  and  a  foot  deep,  dug  in  the 
ground.  The  bottom  was  lined  with  stones, 
which  were  covered  with  dry  leaves,  upon  which 
a  brisk  fire  was  built.  When  the  stones  were 
red-hot,  the  dust  and  ashes  were  brushed  out  of 
the  oven,  and  the  potatoes,  yams,  and  taro,  or  the 
pigs,  dogs,  fish,  and  birds  were  wrapped  in  leaves, 
and  laid  upon  the  hot  stones.  When  all  the  food 


POLYNESIANS.  1 77 

to  be  cooked  had  been  neatly  placed,  leaves  were 
laid  above  them,  and  hot  stones  on  these.  All 
was  then  covered  in  with  leaves  and  earth,  and 
left  until  thoroughly  baked  through. 

Many  of  the  strange  peoples  we  have  consid- 
ered are  filthy;  Polynesians  were  unusually 
cleanly,  and  bathed  frequently.  In  some  islands 
surf  bathing  was  the  chief  sport.  Every  traveller 
to  Hawaii  has  described  the  practice.  Babies 
were  taken  into  the  sea  by  their  mothers  within 
two  or  three  days  of  their  birth,  and  could  swim 
as  soon  as  they  could  walk.  Old  and  young,  men 
and  women,  bathe  in  the  surf,  and  the  heavier  the 
waves  the  greater  the  sport.  The  surf-bathing 
board  was  five  or  six  feet  long,  and  a  foot  wide ; 
it  was  carefully  polished.  Taking  his  board  and 
pushing  it  before  him,  the  man  swam  far  out  to 
sea,  diving  under  the  billows  as  he  met  them. 
When  far  enough  out,  he  lay  himself  on  the  end 
of  the  board  and  waited  for  a  great  wave.  When 
it  came,  he  poised  himself  on  its  very  crest,  and 
paddling  with  hands  and  feet  rode  in  upon  it 
almost  to  the  shore. 

The  Polynesians  were  warriors,  and  their  bat- 
tles were  cruel  and  bloody.  They  rarely  ventured 
into  battle  until  their  gods,  through  their  priests, 
promised  them  success.  To  prepare  themselves 


1/8  STRANGE   PEOPLES. 

for  war  they  practised  in  warlike  arts.  Thus 
they  slung  stones  at  marks,  threw  javelins,  and 
wrestled.  It  is  said  that,  in  slinging,  they  were 
able  to  strike  a  small  stick  at  fifty  yards'  distance, 
four  times  out  of  five.  In  their  javelin  practice, 
the  man  at  whom  the  weapon  was  thrown  often 
caught  it  and  hurled  it  back;  some  were  so 
skilled  that  they  "  would  allow  six  men  to  throw 
their  javelins  at  them,  which  they  would  either 
catch  and  return  on  their  assailants,  or  so  dex- 
trously  turn  aside  that  they  fell  harmless  to  the 
ground."  In  going  to  war,  a  chief  summoned  all 
his  friends  and  subordinates.  When  they  had 
gathered,  the  gods  —  especially  the  war  gods  — 
were  brought  out  to  assist  and  encourage  them. 
During  the  battle  there  was  great  noise  and 
confusion ;  effort  was  made  to  kill  the  great 
chiefs  of  the  enemy,  so  that  their  followers  might 
be  discouraged.  Many  were  killed.  Survivors 
fled  to  some  fortress,  or  the  mountains,  or  found 
safety  in  one  of  the  curious  "  places  of  refuge," 
within  whose  sacred  precincts  no  harm  could  be 
done  them. 

For  weapons,  the  Hawaiians  had  spears  of 
great  length,  javelins,  clubs  which  were  used 
both  for  thrusting  and  striking,  a  hard  wood 
dagger,  and  slings  often  made  of  human  hair. 


POLYNESIANS. 


1/9 


On  the  Kingsmill  Islands  the  natives  made 
weapons,  in  many  shapes  or  sizes,  of  wooden 
shafts,  along  the  sides  of  which  great  numbers 
of  sharks'  teeth  were 
securely  lashed. 
These  weapons 
were  used  both  for 
thrusting  and  strik- 
ing, and  were  fear- 
ful things  on  naked 
bodies.  In  those 
same  islands,  and 
on  account  of  these 
shark-tooth  weap- 
ons, the  natives  had 
curious  protective 
clothing  or  armor 
of  cocoanut  fibre. 

Many  Polynesians 
were  cannibals  : 
some  of  them  dread- 
ful cannibals.  Their 
eating  of  human 

flesh  was  often  connected  with  their  religion. 
They  had  many  gods,  whom  they  represented  by 
idols.  The  Hawaiian  war  god  is  an  example. 
His  idol  was  an  image  four  or  five  feet  high  ;  the 


KINGSMILL   ISLANDER    (TYLOR). 


l8o  STRANGE   PEOPLES. 

upper  part  was  of  wickerwork  covered  with  red 
feathers ;  the  hideous  face  was  supplied  with  a 
great  mouth  with  triple  rows  of  dog's  or  shark's 
teeth ;  the  eyes  were  of  shell,  and  upon  the  head 
was  a  helmet  crested  with  long  tresses  of  human 
hair. 

XXXI. 

CONCLUSION. 

WE  have  spoken  of  many  Strange  Peoples. 
We  have  gone  around  the  world  in  our  search. 
But  after  all  we  have  examined  but  a  small  part. 
Remember  that  there  are  fifty-one  peoples  at  least 
in  the  Philippines  alone.  We  have  not  examined 
the  Australians,  or  the  unfortunate  Tasmanians, 
or  the  many  tribes  of  Siberia,  or  the  sixty  native 
populations  of  India.  We  have  omitted  great 
nations  like  the  southeast  Asians,  —  Siamese, 
Burmese,  Annamese.  In  fact,  there  are  many 
more  Strange  Peoples  that  we  have  not  exam- 
ined, than  we  have  studied.  But  we  have  ex- 
amined enough,  I  hope,  to  learn  that  they  are 
interesting  and  deserve  our  acquaintance  and  our 
sympathy. 

There  are  few  unknown  peoples  left.  Travellers 
have  gone  to  almost  all  parts  of  the  world.  The 


CONCLUSION.  l8l 

spots  which  represent  absolutely  unexplored  re- 
gions on  our  maps  are  now  neither  large  nor 
numerous.  There  are  many  peoples  about  whom 
we  know  little,  but  there  are  not  many  who  are 
actually  unknown.  Those  that  may  be  discovered 
hereafter  will  be  interesting,  but  they  are  not 
likely  to  be  very  different  from  those  now 
known. 

Many  of  the  Strange  Peoples  are  becoming  less 
"  strange  "  every  year.  Old  customs  and  peculiar 
practices  are  dying  out  in  every  part  of  the  world. 
Travellers,  missionaries,  and  merchants  from  white 
men's  lands  are  taking  our  ideas,  our  tools,  our 
weapons,  our  dress,  our  learning,  our  religion,  and 
our  vices  to  the  remotest  parts  of  the  world.  Some 
of  the  Strange  Peoples  here  described  have  already 
lost  most  of  their  old  customs.  The  Polynesians 
and  Fijians  have  little  of  the  old  life  which  we 
have  described.  Many  American  Indian  tribes 
have  changed  less.  Some  populations  have  still 
changed  little.  But  a  tribe  must  indeed  be  remote 
and  difficult  of  access  to  actually  escape  our  touch 
absolutely.  Usually  the  change  is  not  improve- 
ment. Other  people  more  quickly  adopt  our 
vices  than  our  virtues.  Many  tribes  have  become 
drunken,  diseased,  and  depraved  through  the  white 
man's  influence.  It  is  rare,  indeed,  that  a  lower 


1 82  STRANGE   PEOPLES. 

people  gains  in  happiness  or  virtue  by  contact 
with  "  higher  civilization." 

Many  of  the  Strange  Peoples  will  disappear. 
The  Tasmanians  were  killed  off  almost  like  so 
many  animals  by  the  English.  American  Indian 
tribes  have  suffered  almost  as  badly  at  our  hands. 
Many  tribes  have  gone ;  others  are  going.  The 
Lipans  were  once  a  fairly  numerous  tribe.  In 
1892  I  saw  all  who  were  left  in  the  United  States 
—  four  women  and  one  man;  six  months  later 
I  saw  them  again  —  the  man  was  dead  and  only 
four  women  remained.  The  Tonkaways  are 
dying  out  at  the  rate  of  one-third  each  eight 
years.  The  Polynesians,  strong,  handsome,  active, 
and  happy  as  they  were  when  James  Cook  visited 
their  islands  little  more  than  one  hundred  years 
ago,  have  dwindled,  and  fifty  years  more  may  blot 
them  from  the  earth.  Not  all  American  Indian 
tribes  are  dying  out ;  it  is  possible  too  that  Poly- 
nesian decline  began  before  Cook's  travels.  But 
it  is  certain  that  on  the  whole  the  changes 
brought  by  the  newcomers  sealed  the  doom  of 
the  Indian  and  Polynesian. 

There  have  always  been  movements  of  peoples 
from  place  to  place.  We  have  seen  the  Malays 
pouring  three  great  masses  of  immigrants  into 
the  Philippines.  There  are  white  peoples  in 


CONCLUSION.  183 

Asia ;  there  are  yellow  peoples  in  Europe.  Re- 
cently plenty  of  whites  and  of  blacks  have 
poured  into  America.  Such  movements  contain 
some  danger.  The  fair  whites  will  probably 
never  be  able  to  live  in  the  tropical  lands.  A 
certain  sort  of  skin,  hair,  nose,  breathing  appara- 
tus, is  necessary  for  men  who  are  to  live  and 
prosper  in  low,  hot,  marshy  parts  of  Africa.  For 
Germans  to  try  to  colonize  equatorial  Africa  is 
probably  a  fatal  blunder.  So  far  as  we  know  the 
dark  whites  —  Spaniards,  Italians,  south  French- 
men—  make  better  tropical  colonizers  than  we 
do ;  but  even  they  are  not  successful.  The 
negro  is  a  bad  colonizer,  he  hardly  holds  his  own 
even  in  our  Southern  states.  Of  all  the  peoples 
of  the  globe  the  Chinese  seem  to  be  the  best  able 
to  colonize  differing  countries.  He  seems  to  go 
to  hot  lands  and  cold  lands,  to  small  islands  and  to 
great  continents,  but  flourishes  everywhere.  So 
true  is  this  that  some  writers  have  urged  that 
Africa  be  opened  up  for  settlement  to  the 
crowded  millions  of  the  old  empire.  For  most 
peoples,  however,  migration,  if  they  must  migrate, 
is  best  along  the  lines  of  latitude  into  lands  as 
much  like  the  old  home  as  possible.  Many 
Scandinavians  live  to-day  happily  where  Wiscon- 
sin, Iowa,  and  Minnesota  join ;  and  they  may  be 


1 84  STRANGE  PEOPLES. 

expected  to  prosper  there,  for  land  and  water, 
soil  and  products,  scenery  and  climate,  are  there 
much  what  they  were  in  the  fatherland. 


LIST   OF   BOOKS    REGARDING 
STRANGE    PEOPLES. 

This  list  makes  no  pretension  to  completeness ;  a  few  only  of 
the  many  books  of  the  kind  are  mentioned.  Those  with  a 
prefixed  asterisk  will  be  useful  to  teachers ;  those  without  will 
interest  children ;  those  followed  by  an  asterisk  have  directly 
contributed  to  this  book  in  reading  matter  or  illustration. 

ARNOLD  :  Japonica.* 

BATCHELLER  :  The  Ainu  of  Japan.* 

BRAMHALL  :  The  Wee  Ones  of  Japan.* 
*BRFNTON  :  Races  and  Peoples. 

Du  CHAILLU  :  The  Land  of  the  Dwarfs.* 
*DENIKER  :  The  Races  of  Man. 

DOOLTTTLE  :  Social  Life  of  the  Chinese.* 

ELLIS  :  Polynesian  Researches.* 

FIELDE  :  A  Corner  of  Cathay. 

HEARN  :  Glimpses  of  Unfamiliar  Japan. 

Hue :  Travels  in  Tartary,  Thibet,  and  China.* 
*KEANE:  Ethnology. 
•KEANE  :  Man ;  Past  and  Present. 

LANE  :  The  Modern  Egyptians. 

LEONOWENS  :  The  English  Governess  at  the  Siamese  Court. 
•LOWELL:  Choson.* 
*LUBBOCK  :  Origin  of  Civilization. 
•LUMMIS  :  The  Land  of  Poco  Tiempo.* 

MARSHALL  :  Phrenologist  among  the  Todas.* 
*MEYER  :  Album  von  Philippinen-Typen.* 

MILN  :  Little  Folk  of  Many  Lands.* 

NANSEN  :  Eskimo  Life. 

185 


1 86  LIST  OF  BOOKS. 

*PESCHEL  :  The  Races  of  Man. 

DE  QUATREFAGES  :  The  Pygmies. 
*RATZEL  :  History  of  Mankind. 
*RATZEL:  Volkerkunde.* 
*RECLUS  :  Primitive  Folk. 

ROCKHILL  :  The  Land  of  the  Lamas. 

SCHWEINFURTH  :  The  Heart  of  Africa.* 

SMITH  :  Chinese  Characteristics. 

STANLEY  :  In  Darkest  Africa.* 
*TURNER  :  Samoa. 
*TYLOR  :  Anthropology.* 
*VERNEAU  :  Les  Races  Humaines.* 

WALLACE  :  The  Malay  Archipelago. 

WARD  :  India  and  the  Hindoos.* 

WILLIAMS  :  Fiji  and  the  Fijians.* 


ADVERTISEMENTS 


AMERICAN  INDIANS 

BY  FREDERICK  STARR,  PH.D., 

Associate  Professor  of  Anthropology,  University  oj  Chicago. 


Cloth.    240  Pages.      Fully  Illustrated.  Price,  45  Cents. 


D.  C.  HEATH  &  CO.,  Publishers 

BOSTON.  NEW   YORK.  CHICAGO. 


W.  N.  Hailman,  Supt.  of  Schools,  Dayton,  O.,  formerly  U.  S.  Commis- 
sioner of  Indian  Schools:  The  book  is  beyond  question  the  most  attractive  and 
conscientious  presentation  of  the  subject  I  have  met. 

M.  V.  O'Shea,  School  of  Education,  Univ.  of  Wisconsin,  Madison,  Wis.: 
I  am  glad  to  say  that  I  regard  Starr's  "American  Indians"  as  one  of  the  most 
appropriate  books  for  grammar  grade  reading  that  I  have  seen. 

Richard  E.  Dodge,  Prof,  in  Teachers'  College,  Columbia  Univ.,  in  "The 
Journal  of  School  Geography":  The  name  of  the  author  is  a  sufficient  guar- 
antee as  to  the  accuracy  and  value  of  the  little  book  whose  title  is  noted  above. 
We  have  long  needed  a  well-written  and  true  account  of  the  much  misused 
and  misunderstood  American  Indians,  and  more  especially  an  account  that 
would  appeal  to  the  young,  and  give  them  different  impressions  from  those 
gathered  from  nursery  tales,  school  primers,  or  Cooper's  stories.  The  book 
is  attractive  in  general  appearance,  in  typography,  and  illustration,  and  is 
well  divided  into  thirty-three  short  chapters,  each  devoted  to  a  pertinent 
topic.  It  deals  with  all  the  aspects  of  Indian  life,  as  is  shown  by  the  follow- 
ing selected  chapter  headings  —  Houses,  Dress,  the  Baby  and  Child,  War, 
Hunting  and  Fishing,  Picture  Writing,  Money,  Medicine  Men  and  Secret 
Societies,  Dances  and  Ceremonials,  The  Algonquins,  the  Six  Nations,  the 
Creeks,  the  Cherokees,  The  Pueblos,  Totem  Posts,  The  Aztecs,  etc.  The 
author  has  made  good  use  of  authorities,  and  includes  notes  concerning  each 


STARR'S  AMERICAN  INDIANS. 


author  quoted.  The  book  shows  that  great  care  has  been  expended  in  select- 
ing and  organizing  materials,  and  is  authoritative.  It  should  receive  a  hearty 
welcome,  and  be  used  not  only  in  schools,  but  in  homes,  as  a  book  for  boys 
and  girls,  or  as  a  book  for  a  parent  to  use  in  selecting  true  facts  for  family 
talks  and  conferences.  Two  valuable  maps  are  included  in  the  text,  and  are 
both  very  pertinent. 

Journal  of  Education,  Boston,  Mass.:  The  bock  is  interesting  and 
instructive  throughout,  and  should  be  read  widely  in  school  and  out. 

The  American,  Philadelphia,  Pa.:  This  book,  prepared  especially  for 
younger  people,  is  a  careful,  interesting  history  of  the  chief  tribes  of  North 
American  Indians,  their  peculiarities  and  ways  of  life.  The  picture  drawn 
is  good  and  highly  instructive. 

Tribune,  Chicago,  111.:  Professor  Starr  is  already  a  recognized  author- 
ity on  Indian  lore,  having  a  personal  acquaintance  with  some  thirty  tribes, 
from  Alaska  to  Yucatan.  His  book  condenses  into  240  pages  the  main  facts 
gathered  by  students  and  explorers  among  the  red  men  since  the  discovery 
of  America.  One  cannot  read  many  pages  without  feeling  that  the  author  is 
deeply  in  sympathy  with  the  people  of  whom  he  is  writing. 


D.  C  HEATH  &  CO.,  Publishers, 

BOSTON.  NEW  YORK.  CHICAGO. 


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